Tenerife-based Bendita Film Sales, headed by Luis Reinart, has acquired “The Punishment,” directed by Matias Pezz (“El Castigo”), ahead of its international premiere at the Tallinn Black Knights Film Festival on Saturday.
Produced by Ceneca Producciones and Leyenda Films, it is the second film to see the light in 2022 of the multi-awarded director “In the Bed”, “The Life of Fish” and “The Memory of Water”, having won in Malaga with Insurance inspired by Private messages. A Bendita purchase signifies confidence in this latest version, which is headed to Ventana Sur for its market premiere December 1.
In the film, the couple’s seven-year-old son goes missing, after being left momentarily on the side of the road as punishment. In a forest and played in real time, the boy’s parents are looking for him. Helmer Matthias Pizzi explains the subtle shifts in the couple’s reactions to this crisis as the questions grow outward from the search for the boy, to broader notions of what good parenting is and its effect on them as individuals.
The film was penned by the Goya-nominated Coral Cruz, among whose previous projects was “The Days To Come” by Carlos Marquez Marcet, which won big in Malaga.
As a roommate, she draws heavily on the two leads, Antonia Zegers (“Tony Manero,” “No,” Oscarwinner “Wonderful Woman”) as the mother, and Nestor Cantellana (“Memory of Water,” “Neruda,” “Prófugos”) as the father. The claustrophobic jungle, Bosque de Qullin, Chile was shot by DOP Gabriel Díaz, primarily shot using natural lighting to give it more realism.
“We were immediately enchanted by Matthias Pease’s new work,” said Bendita Film Sales Executive Luis Reinhardt, praising Pease’s “confident, gritty scenery and a script designed by Coral Cruz that keeps you on the edge of your seat, not to mention the rich and amazingly complex performances by Antonia Zeiger.” Nestor Castellana.
There have been a slew of Chilean titles garnering attention recently with Nicolas Postiglione first winning for “Immersion” in Tallinn’s Black Nights last year and nominations for Pablo Larraín’s “Spencer” and the animated short “Bestia” at the Academy Awards. We hope that “The Punishment” will become another success story for Chilean cinema.
Mathias Pease
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