Mario Chacón as the Fisherman with the magic lobster
“This land is wondrous strange-November 5th 1634”
Following a near death experience in 2018, when he was in a coma for a week steeped in strange, mysterious underwater dreams, Harry Domenico Rossi felt the need to express those experiences in a film and in a few months, wrote the stories that make up this debut feature: ‘Pescador (2024)’
“I wanted to make a movie that explored the feeling that I had about the ocean when I was in the coma… when you are in a coma, the dreams seem to last much longer than those when you are asleep.”
Harry Domenico Rossi- the Director
The result has been a deeply personal film in which magic realism and existentialism is mixed with fantasy to explore the feeling of isolation and loneliness he felt during his recovery and the struggle to reconnect with other people.
In the first half of ‘Pescador’, a marine biologist (Alex Wanebo) seems to be surfacing from an inner underwater experience herself, as she wanders somewhat aimlessly towards the Pacific coast, hitching rides and avoiding too much contact with others, while talking about her hopes to find that special fish and a brother who disappeared 5 years earlier, whom she’s almost forgotten.
A Segua,from Costa Rican folklore
As she moves haphazardly in the right direction, she is mistaken for a Segua, a mythical woman who haunts the highways with the head of a horse, preying on adulterous men. (‘Yegua’ means ‘mare’, so Segua is a close take on the original word). On her travels, she meets people who tell her fantastic stories about talking snakes, and prophecies, all imbued with the mysteries of life and death, while (in voice over) she reads tranches of an ancient account from 1634, where an Indian girl actually disappeared into the waters when she spotted the mythical fish and followed it.
The second half of the film deals with the lonely life of an island fisherman (Mario Chacón) who desperately wishes to have a son. When a magical talking lobster promises him a son that he must love or destroy, a barely-live shipwrecked lad appears before him in the ocean like a mirage. Determined to make the prophecy come true, he tries his best but this rescued lad (Spencer Bang) who cannot speak Spanish is erratic, hostile and possibly dangerous. The lad, in turn, also finds himself trapped, finding it impossible to leave the island.
Even the dense Costa Rican jungle comes across as a maze. Will she just be swallowed up by this mysterious forest? The stunning photography of cinematographer Isaac Banks (Moonglow and Lingua Franca) has captured the beauty of the country, with streams and waterfalls emerging from the foliage almost as if they were imagined or dreamed. Meanwhile the young scientist wanders along highways looking to hitch a ride, while being constantly warned of the dangers of travelling alone. She doesn’t care, something in her has suffered, her brother disappeared 5 years earlier and she has almost stopped thinking about him. The sound effects (Alex Nomick) and music (Dylan Marx) in particular, are very effective adding to the magic of the scenery.
Alex Wanebo as the marine biologist
Alex Wanebo’s performance is nuanced and skilled. A graduate from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, she has been nominated by the Raindance Film Festival for ‘Best Performance in a Debut Film’. Spencer Bang was also convincingly disturbed and we feel the need to know more about his story. Similarly, Mario Chacón, fisherman-turned-actor, produces an amazing performance that is both mesmerizing and committed. Harry Domenico Rossi has also been rewarded with a nomination by Raindance for ‘Best Director for Debut Film’.
Structured as two stories that do not appear to connect to one another at first, we have the two siblings lost in Costa Rica and a fisherman in between. Is the marine biologist (Alex Wanebo) searching for a mythical fish, or is she searching for a nirvana that can never be found, be it with magical fish, or as with the fisherman, a son?
Spencer Bang as the shipwrecked brother
Reality sometimes mingles with fiction as the cast and crew turned out to have had a hard time filming in Costa Rica. Rossi pointed out that it is a land of unpredictable weather and tumultuous events. One location at a National Park became inaccessible to a massive mud slide, and the weather and conditions created near havoc on the boat shots, so that the shoot took much longer than anticipated.
‘Pescador’ had its World premiere at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI GOA), and its European premiere at the 2026 Raindance Film Festival. Harry Domenico Rossi was born in LA, but is now based in New York. He started out with his first short ‘Just a Body’ (2015) that is a satirical twist on classic movie musicals. “A young lady must choose between love and social pressure when her late fiancée requests her virginity from beyond the grave.” He has a life long interest in creatures hence the name of the production company. 
His second feature ‘De Novo’ which he wrote and is being directed by his wife, Annie Rasiel, is currently in post-production with Ascidian Film Productions. A good name as ascidians are sea squirts, sac-like marine invertebrates who undergo a regressive metamorphosis in their life span, so it’s no surprise that Rossi also has a pet gecko that has just celebrated its 22nd birthday this year.
‘Pescador’ (2024) is at the 2026 RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
Ascidian films productions / Writer/director: Harry Domenico Rossi
Cast: Spencer Bang as the son & brother Trent / Mario Chacón as the fisherman/ Alex Wanebo as the young scientist
Written and directed: Harry Domenico Rossi / Additional writing: Annie Rasiel /Producers: Isaac Banks/ Annie Rasiel. Gimena Cortes Ramirez. Harry Domenico Rossi / Creative producer: Ben Unstead /DOP: Isaac Banks /Production Designer: Tori Lancaster /Sound Mixer: Sebastián Uribe/ Editors: Bryce Woods and Harry Domenico Rossi / Sound Design: Alex Nomick / Composer: Dylan Marx
