Private Project

Juan the fisherman

Juan, a fisherman, watches over his deceased wife on the one-year anniversary of the tragedy where three of his children died at sea. Juan spends the day building the tomb of his wife and prepares his own death.

  • Freddy Rojas Matamala
    Director
    Poema 21 (2008), Elsa (2019), El último Tango (2019), Sobre llovido mojado (2019).
  • Paulo Navarrete Arratia
    Director's assistant
  • Freddy Rojas Matamala
    Writer
  • Julio Rojas Matamala
    Producer
  • Jorge Cárdenas Bravo
    Producer Assistant
  • César Melín Matamala
    Producer Assistant
  • Isaac Valdebenito Arrepol
    Key Cast
    "Juan"
  • Julia Ana Barra López
    Key Cast
  • Eduardo Freadlander Navarrete
    Sound Desing
  • Pamela Arévalo Azócar
    Art
  • Catalina Espinoza Ortiz
    Costume Design
  • El Regaño
    Distribution
    El Paraíso (2021), Los Hijos del Silencio (2018).
  • Décima Films
    Production Company
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Juan el pescador
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 52 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 10, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Argentina
  • Country of Filming:
    Chile
  • Language:
    Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Professional School of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts of Eliseo Subiela
  • Lift-Off Online Sessions
    Buckinghamshire
    United Kingdom
    June 1, 2021
    England Premiere
    Official Selection
  • CLERMONT FERRAND 2020

    France
    May 9, 2021
    Official Selection
  • PIFF Parana Internacional Films Festival 2021
    Parana
    Argentina
    September 1, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Festival RNAB "Revelando Novos Atores Brasileiros" 2022
    Sao Paulo
    Brazil
    March 25, 2022
    Brazil Premiere
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • El Regaño
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights, Internet, Video on Demand
  • Décima Films
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Freddy Rojas Matamala

I present to you that I am a Professional Graphic Designer graduated from the Duoc UC Professional Institute, San Andrés de Concepción headquarters, specialized in Web Design and development. I am currently studying Film and Visual Arts at Eliseo Subiela's professional film school. In my years prior to entering the Design Career, I developed various activities related to those that I perform today. When I was in high school in the City of Lebu, I participated in two short films, one as a screenwriter and the next as a director. The two short films were winners in the regional competition, and one of them was selected to participate in the Regional competition of the Caverna Benavides de Lebu International Film Festival, in 2011. The same year with a group from my city we held the first Festival of Music and Arts in the City of Lebu, in which I participated as a Musician, Producer and Main Manager of the activity. In 2014 I put together a team and we created a production company with the intention of developing cultural activities but this time in a professional way, thus “Décima, Production Company of Art and Communication” was born and which is currently DécimaFilms. From this idea the realization of the First Multicultural Festival of the Province of Arauco “Mapu Festival” was forged, which lasted three days, which included the most important bands in the region. In this project I carried out the tasks of Production, Art Direction and Artistic Director. Parallel to this, I worked in the Grupo Biz advertising agency where I worked in the editorial and advertising design area. Apart from continuing to direct the production company "Décima" in which we collaborate in different regional projects such as the Ser Uno Festival, Partners of the "Corriente" collective, Fiesta Minga etc. Years later I joined the work team in the Design area of the Bar Casa de Salud (Concepción), specifically in the Communication Agency "La Medicina" where I worked on the design and communication of important projects of the Province such as the Laguna Mental Festival, Awards Ceres, Radio Leufü, La Hora del Gnomo (Broadcast on TVN) among others. In this last discipline in which I am specializing (Visual Mapping), I have developed interventions in the same bar, and I have worked as a visualist for more than 30 bands, national, local and international. Together with the visualists of the health house, we created the WUÑELFE project where we have developed important projects in the region such as the scenography and mapping of ceres awards, Virtual Museum of Ñuble for the casino marina del sol de Chillán and in parallel I have participated as director art of 3 short films and a video clip of the band GEA. The last project I directed was the short film "Juan el pescador" winner in the Filma Biobio competition, and the Kinema Prize awarded by the Chilean Film Commission.

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Director Statement

Juan the fisherman, a short film from Lebulencia, is based on a real event. Juan (90 years old), a fisherman, watches over his wife who died of him on the day of the one year anniversary of the tragedy where three of his children died at sea. Juan spends the day building the tomb of his wife and prepares his own death.

This story is repeated in many cases of parents who lose their children at sea or women who are left without their husbands or sometimes parents and children and have to continue to struggle with the pain and tragedy of never seeing their relatives lost in the sea or die of grief.

The director took a story based on the story of the three “Vigor” brothers who were lost at sea and never returned. His parents had to live with the pain of never seeing their three children again.

In Lebu there is a symbolic cemetery in front of the sea where the relatives make a monolith to remember their loved ones and it is where the Character Juan goes to say goodbye to his children with the hope of meeting them in the other world, since Luz, his wife, dreams that death will find them. Juan takes the grave of his wife to the bottom of the sea and commits suicide in the hope of meeting his family.

The short film deals with the subject of death in a very respectful way, for the same reason it is moving since the message is not explicit.

The short film was filmed in the FILMA BIOBIO 2020 contest, winning the competition and winning the KINEMA award granted by the filmcommission Chile and was part of the selection of short films from one of the most important short film markets in the world, which is CLERMONT FERRAND.