The Punishment
Ana is driving, her face serious and angry. Beside her sits her husband Mateo, who is really tense and pleads for her to turn around. “Let’s wait a bit more,” replies Ana, but he commands her to do it right away. They finally turn back only to find just a child’s hat. It was meant to be a punishment, leaving their seven-year-old kid in the forest, but now he has disappeared.
The independent Chilean filmmaker usually makes intimate movies about couples and relationships, but this time he goes out to the forest and experiments with just one take and with a clockwork script that makes you cling to the seat. It’s the type of a story that captures you since the first frame, keeps you on your toes throughout the whole movie, and when you return to real life, it is still there with you.
The performances of the renowned Chilean actors Antonia Zegers (“The Dogs”, etc.) and Nestor Castillana entrap you, conveying the anguish of parents who don’t know if they are doing the right thing. With the help of amazingly complex actor performances, experienced young director Matias Bize (“La memoria del agua”, PÖFF 2015; “En La Cama”, remade by Julio Medem) raises many topics which sometimes are taboos and are not talked about: parenthood, relationships and people’s roles, all wrapped up in the skin of a thriller which creates an urgent wish to discuss it.
Javier Garcia Puerto
Matías Bize made his first short films as a student. In 2002, at the age of 23 and not yet a graduate, he directed his first feature-length film, "Saturday", tragicomedy about a wedding cancelled at the last minute, had its worldwide premiere at the 2003 International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg where it won four awards. In 2004 he directed the feature-length "In Bed", a Chilean-German production that premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland. Film won more than 35 international awards and went on commercial release in many countries across the world. With "The Life of Fish", Bize reconfirmed his place as a director of international stature. In 2011, the Spanish Film Academy named the film Best Foreign Spanish language Film at the prestigious Goya Awards and in the same year, Bize won Best Director at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF).
Filmography
Sábado, una película en tiempo real (2003), En la Cama (2005), Juego de verano (2005, co-dir), Lo bueno de llorar (2006), La Vida de los Peces (The Life of Fish, 2010), La Memoria del Agua (Vee mälu, PÖFF 2015), En tu piel (2018), Mensajes Privados (2022), El Castigo (The Punishment, 2022)
Grand Prix for The Best Film, grant of 20 000 euros from the city of Tallinn, Award for Best Director, grant of 5000€ from Alexela
