THE PUNISHMENT
A film by Matías Bize.
Ana is driving, her face serious and angry. Mateo, her husband, asks her to turn around, returning to the place in the forest where they have left their seven-year-old son. It’s only been two minutes, but he’s gone.
Status: Completed
Year: 2022
Genre: Drama
Country: Chile, Argentina
Language: Spanish
Available subtitles: English, French, German
Runtime: 86 min
Original title: El castigo
At the age of 23, Matías Bize directed “Saturday” (2003) with which he won the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Award at the Mannheim-Heidelberg Festival. It was followed by “In the bed” (2005), which received more than forty international awards after celebrating its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival, where he also premiered “About Crying” (2006). Later came “The Life of the Fish” (2010) and “The Memory of Water” (2015), both premiered at the Venice Film Festival. In the Dominican Republic, he directed “7:20 Once a Week ” (2019), a film that was born as a remake of “In the Bed” to finally become an original feature film. At the hardest moment of the lockdown, he directed “Private Messages” (2022), a choral film in which the director invited his closest actors to record themselves with their own cell phones and build a story based on true stories. “The Punishment” (2022) is his latest film, which premiered at the Official Competition of the Tallinn Black Nights FF.
FILMOGRAPHY
2022 The Punishment (86’)
2022 Private messages (77’)
2018 7:20 Once a Week (76’)
2015 The Memory of Water (88’)
2010 The Life of Fish (84’)
2006 About Crying (80’)
2005 Juego de verano (Co-dir.) (90’)
2005 In bed (85’)
2003 Saturday (65’)
CAST
Antonia Zegers
Néstor Cantillana
Catalina Saavedra
Yair Juri
CREW
Director: Matías Bize
Screenplay: Coral Cruz
Cinematography: Gabriel Díaz
Sound: Martín Grignaschi
Music: Gustavo Pomenarec
Executive producers: Adrián Solar, Rocío Gort, Ignacio Rey, Sebastián Olivari, Fernando Bascuñán
Production Company: Ceneca Producciones, Leyenda
2022
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival | Official Selection – Competition · Best Actress
La Serena International Film Festival
FICVIÑA International Film Festival
2023
Festival de Cine Global de Santo Domingo
Miami Film Festival
Malaga Film Festival | Official Competition · Best Director · SIGNIS Award
Festival International de Films de Fribourg | International Competition
LATCinema Fest
FICCI Cartagena de Indias | Películas de allá
Uruguay International Film Festival | Ibero-American Competition
Chicago Latino Film Festival
Beijing International Film Festival | Tiantan Award Competition · Best Feature Film · Best Actress
Milwaukee Film Festival
MOOOV filmfestival
Cine Las Americans International Film Festival
Transilvania International Film Festival | Supernova
Lima Film Festival | Fiction Competition · Best Actress
FICPBA Festival Internacional de Cine de la Provincia de Buenos Aires · Best Actress · Best Screenplay
Cine Magnífico | Albuquerque Latino Film Festival
New York Latino Film Festival · Best International Film
Biarritz Latin Film Festival | Feature Film Competition · Audience Award · Biarritz Residents’ Award · Jury’s Coup de Couer
FICMonterrey | Latin American Competition
Seattle Latino Film Festival · Best Lead Performance · Honorable Mention for Direction
Filmfest Osnabrück
World Film Days Thusis
Ibero-Latin American Film Festival Trieste | Official Competition · Best Lead Performance
Festival de Cine Internacional de Villa de Leyva | Feature Film Competition · Best Feature Film
IFFI Goa | Cinema of the World
Cine Ceará | Ibero-American Feature Film Competition · Best Cinematography · Critics’ Award
International Film Festival of Kerala | World Cinema
Mostra de Cinema da América Latina
2024
Fajr International Film Festival | Festival of Festivals
Ternium’s Latin-American Film Festival
ADCH – Images Hispano Américaines – Annecy
Hispanorama: Festival de cinéma hispanique
Filmtage Tübingen (CineLatino-CineEspañol)
It elegantly turns a compelling and intense dramatic situation into an involving study of the psychology of motherhood.
Jonathan Holland, Screen Daily
With just one take and a clockwork script, ‘The Punishment’ makes you cling to the seat.
Javier García Puerto, Tallinn Black Nights