Director Nuria Ibáñez has presented her new feature film, El guardián, her debut feature, which is competing in the Official Competition of the Festival de Málaga after its screening at the Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico. This Mexican-Spanish co-production offers an intimate and powerful reflection on memory, faith, and identity.
 
At a press conference alongside her lead actor, Basilio Moncada, who makes his acting debut, the director explained how she attempted to capture in her screenplay this story that explores the boundaries between personal and collective memory, identity, and beliefs, all underpinned by a profoundly human narrative. The film stems from Ibáñez's interest in exploring a little-known reality and portraying the complexity of a character whose life is marked by faith, responsibility, and the weight of tradition.
 
For this reason, Ibáñez has set out to observe her protagonist with a close and respectful gaze, allowing the viewer to empathically connect with his personal world and the questions that permeate his life. She explained that one of the film's fundamental themes is the exploration of memory and how personal stories intertwine with beliefs and the cultural contexts in which they unfold.
 
The plot—with a distinctly documentary feel—offers an intimate look at a character who lives between the responsibility of safeguarding a tradition and the need to find his own place in the world. Themes such as migration, labour exploitation, and organised crime are also prominent throughout the screenplay, also written by Ibáñez. Regarding the creative process behind the main character, Moncada confessed that working in front of the camera involved revisiting personal and emotional experiences that form part of the character's identity, which gave the filming a particularly genuine and organic dimension. Basilio is hired to look after a deserted beach in Baja California. In this paradise, where nothing seems to happen, many things do, some of them illegal. As a man of strong moral principles, he tries to do the right thing. However, what he believes is right can backfire in a community he barely knows.
 
Moncada emphasised that the film not only explores an individual story but also invites reflection on the meaning of faith, tradition, and belonging to a community. In his opinion, this balance between the intimate and the collective is one of the aspects that gives the story its greatest depth. The cast also includes actors Gerardo Trejoluna, Jorge Abraham Fuerte, Blake Webb, Andrea Lara, and José Misael Murillo, among others.
 
With regard to the acting, the director also highlighted the importance of working with a lead actor whose connection to the story is so direct. For Ibáñez, this closeness allows the film to be built upon an emotional truth that permeates the entire narrative and lends a unique dimension to the project.
 
The film won the Best First Feature Award at the Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico and also received a Special Mention for Best Actor for its lead actor, Basilio Moncada.