‘Black Shine, From ‘State of Silence’ Director Santiago Maza, ’ Delves Into the Aftermath of a 2006 Mining Tragedy That Buried 63 Miners — SkimNews
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- Black Shine premiered at the 24th Morelia Film Festival, entering competition for the top prize among short films; the festival is scheduled to wrap Oct. 25.
- Black Shine revisits the 2006 Pasta de Conchos coal-mine explosion in Coahuila, which the article says buried 65 miners; two decades later, some remains have been recovered while families continue seeking others.
- Black Shine centers former miner El Güero, who recovered his brother’s remains, and Elvira, who still awaits her husband; Maza met them in 2021 through the Pasta de Conchos organization.
- Santiago Maza says the mining company and government effectively colluded to cover up the disaster and never properly searched for the miners, describing that corruption and impunity as a “second tragedy.”
- Andrés Manuel López Obrador visited the site in 2018 after three presidential administrations had passed and promised that, if elected president, he would make the miners’ recovery happen.
- Julián Herbert reads a poem written for the film, including the line “In the face of abandonment, presence,” which Maza said adds a symbolic layer to the story.
- Black Shine was filmed over four days in April by a four-person crew with minimal preproduction; Maza said the flexible approach let the team capture the region’s landscapes, history and people more deeply.
Why it matters: For the families of the 65 miners described in the article, the Morelia premiere places their 20-year recovery campaign before a festival audience. The documentary also records Maza’s account that the mining company and government failed to conduct a proper search, making institutional impunity central alongside the unresolved loss.
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