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Nuria Ibáñez on EL GUARDIÁN and How Cinema Helps Us Think About What’s Foreign to Us at the 23rd FICM

Gustavo R. Gallardo

As part of the 23rd Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), director Nuria Ibáñez Castañeda, joined by producer Cristina Velasco, actress Andrea Lara, and actors Basilio Moncada and Blake Webb, held a press conference about the film El guardián at the Melchor Ocampo Theater. 

When Nuria Ibáñez explained that the film was born from the idea of discovering what keeps a person tied to a place, the narrative of the conversation followed that direction. 

El guardián tells the story of Basilio, who is hired to be the caretaker of a deserted beach in Baja California. In this seemingly peaceful paradise, illicit activities take place. Basilio, a man of strict moral principles, wants to follow the right path. However, what he thinks is the right decision can turn against him in a community he hasn't been a part of for long.   

The director revealed that before making the film, Basilio, whom she had known from another project (A Wild Stream, 2018), was stuck in a job that promised him a salary that never came, so she helped him see he had to leave.

“[Through this film] I wanted to understand why Basilio didn’t leave the beach… I make films because it helps you think differently, to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and understand situations beyond your reach. Situations that are different from your own, that are foreign to you. That’s El guardián,” Ibáñez explained. 

Making the film was a surprise to Basilio Moncada because his childhood was rough: “I didn’t go to school, I just worked,” he said tearfully.  

As this is his first time visiting Morelia, Basilio humorously claims that he likes it here because the people “don’t speak to you much,”  which allows him to fulfil his wish to be left alone and to go unnoticed… A lot like a guardian, perhaps. .