Paz Vega (Rambo: Last Blood, Spanglish) has signed on to star in the Salvadoran civil war drama Fireflies at El Mozote, which starts principal photography on location in El Salvador in November 2022.

Written and directed by Ernesto Melara, the flick is set in 1980s El Salvador and recounts the story of a ten-year-old boy who survives the massacre of his village and his quest to bring justice to his dead family in the middle of a bloody civil war.

Elias Axume is producing for Premiere Entertainment, which handles worldwide sales, with Moctesuma Esparza (Selena, The Milagro Beanfield War). Bob Yari (Crash, The Illusionist, Yellowstone) serves as executive producer alongside Premiere’s Carlos Rincon. Arturo Menendez is co-producing.

“We are excited to add Paz to the ‘Fireflies’ project. She’s an amazing actress and was our top choice for the character that she’ll be portraying,” said Premiere CEO Elias Axume. “This is an ambitious project with high expectations that carries an important responsibility to depict an accurate and fair portrayal of the events during a period of turmoil in the country’s history.”

Additional casting will be announced in the coming months.

Fireflies is one of three Salvadorian-set films to be greenlit by Premiere Entertainment, alongside Toque De Queda and The Incredible Journey Of Elba.

Recent Premiere original productions include Palido with Kellan Lutz, Shrapnel with Jason Patric, and Black Warrant with Tom Berenger and Cam Gigandet. All films are currently in post-production.

Vega is repped by Paradigm Talent Agency and Management Production Entertainment