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The Dark Side in Bloom: Edgar Nito's UN CUENTO DE PESCADORES at the 22nd FICM

Berenice Andrade

Un cuento de pescadores, the second feature film by director Edgar Nito, had its premiere at the 22nd Morelia International Film Festival (FICM). The fiction film competes in the Mexican Feature Film Section.

Un cuento de pescadores presents stories surrounding the legend of La Miringua. Legend has it that, years ago, nature thrived in harmony around the lake and its islands until evil arrived. Men, blinded by dark desires, brought fear, hatred and death. Fishermen call her La Miringua and she is the one who drags you out and drowns you in the lake for your sins.

In a press conference, Edgar Nito explained that he grew up interested in Mexican legends and did not want to tell the same story of La Llorona. In his search through Mexican folklore, he found the legend of La Miringua, through which he wanted to represent a metaphor of the evil that can permeate people, through fears, and to which he gave life on the islands of Pacanda, Yunuén, Janitzio and on the shores of Lake Patzcuaro.

Regarding the structure of the film, which presents the presence of La Miringua through various stories, he said: “It was important to me that the legend transits like a mist through all the stories. [The legend] is an oral tradition that doesn't have the same structure as other stories, and that's how it was decided to make this film's outline.

For the making of Un cuento de pescadores, the production lived on the island of Pacanda for months and was integrated into the community, which, in turn, was part of the production. Actors and actresses learned to fish, row, and scale fish, while the inhabitants of the community collaborated in different tasks of the production and even acted.

"I lived on the island of Pacanda for six months. First [its inhabitants] opened the island to us, then the community, then their heart and then their home,” said Waldo Facco, acting coach and casting director.

“There was no marked difference between the crew and the people, everyone had the same goal of telling a story,” added actor Hoze Meléndez.

Between sensations of invisible presences and feet being pulled in the dark, scares were part of filming, but not for actress Ruby Vizcarra, who plays the ghostly character that haunts the lake. “They never scared me. I concluded that Miringua doesn't scare Miringua."