Inspired by the fragment about the Baja California peninsula that appears in the film A Broke Down Melody, Axel Sandoval embodies the voice of the local fisherman-surfer—a figure who deeply represents those raised among the waves and deserts of the North Pacific in Baja California Sur. This is a geographically privileged region, home to solitary breaks and landscapes that seem suspended in time.
The Woodshed Films piece left a lasting impression on the imagination of surfers from this area. It tells a story that emerged during the so-called Island Boom of the 1990s, when the Malloy brothers began exploring the most remote corners of the peninsular desert. Those visits—encounters between towering cardones and untouched waves—planted a seed.
From that seed grew a generation of desert surfers: young people who could ride waves with the ease and style of the gringos, yet with roots deeply intertwined with the land and sea that shaped them. In this piece, we echo—above all—the final line of the voice-over: “Someday our day will come.” That day has arrived.
Film by Jesús Salazar
