‘Don’t Shoot on a Boat,’ They Said — But I Did: Harold Rossi

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Born from visions in a coma and filmed on real fishing boats in open seas, Pescador emerges as IFFI’s most emotionally charged and visually daring film.

By TRH Entertainment Desk

Panji, November 22, 2025 — At the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), director Harold Domenico Rossi pulled back the curtain on the extraordinary journey behind his film Pescador—a work shaped as much by the ocean as by a near-death experience.

Speaking at a press conference, Rossi revealed that the film’s emotional seed was planted during a period when he was in a medically induced coma. “I kept seeing oceans. The isolation was crushing,” he said. “Pescador became my way of translating that longing for connection onto the screen.”

Rossi approached the project with the same fearless instinct that informed its origin. “Every filmmaker in history says: don’t shoot a movie on a boat. I didn’t listen,” he laughed.

What followed was an unforgiving shoot on real fisherman boats, open seas and dense jungle terrain. “It was brutally demanding—but the authenticity was worth every scraped knee, every storm, every sleepless night.”

One of the film’s most striking choices is the casting of a non-actor as its central fisherman. “We took a chance,” Rossi said. “His natural presence gave the film its soul.”

Producer Barbara Anne Rasiel described the project as a “truly international collaboration,” with the cast and crew split equally between the US and Costa Rica. “We lived together, worked together, learned each other’s languages. It changed all of us,” she said.

Cinematographer and producer Isaac Joseph Banks added that the film’s power lies in its dual visual grammar. “We crafted two distinct visual languages for the two protagonists. The contrast isn’t just aesthetic—it drives the storytelling.”

With its emotional rawness, bold ocean-front production and cross-cultural spirit, Pescador stands out as one of IFFI 2025’s most unforgettable films.

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