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The Fish Child (El Niño Pez)

Lucía Puenzo
Argentina, Spain, France / 2011 / 96 min / Spanish and Guaraní with English subtitles

Writer-director Lucía Puenzo follows up her 2007 award winning film, XXY, with this steamy tale of star-crossed love set on both sides of the class divide in South America. Lala (Inés Efron, in a performance called evocative of early Sissy Spacek and Chloë Sevigny) is the privileged teenage daughter of a powerful judge, and she’s fallen hard for her family’s maid, La Guayi (singer Mariela Vitale, making her feature-film debut). The two women plot to escape Buenos Aires and live together on the remote shores of Paraguay's Lake Ypoá. Before they can carry out their plan, Lala's father is murdered and she runs away from home and heads toward Guayi's village in Paraguay, hoping that her lover will follow. While in Paraguay, she begins to explore Guayi's troubled past. Meanwhile, Guayi is detained in a juvenile detention center in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. She turns out to be hiding a crime from long ago… Beautiful cinematography, a compelling story of love overcoming the odds, and a touch of magical realism make The Fish Child an escape from the ordinary. The film features an appearance by the Paraguayan musical group the Potrankos. 

The Fish Child is one of the many films included in the catalogue of Spanish Film Club.

Lucía Puenzo, began her career as a writer for television series and worked on The Whore and the Whale (La Puta Y La Ballena, 2004). In 2007 she shot her first movie, XXY a teen love story where sex plays an essential role. XXY was awarded the Cannes Film Festival’s Critic´s Week Award®, the Ariel® and Goya®Academy Awards as well as many other film festivals such as Athens, Bangkok, Cartagena, Edinburgh and Montreal. Puenzo is also a writer. She wrote The Fish Child (El Niño Pez, 2004), Nine Minutes (Nueve Minutos, 2005), The Curse of Pichimahuida Jacinta (La Maldición de Pichimahuida Jacinta, 2007), Rage of the Lobster (La Ira De La Langosta, 2009), and has been published in Argentina, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil and the USA. In 2010 the British magazine Granta selected her as one of 22 best writers in Spanish under 35 years.

Clarín®  Awards 
- Best Debut Actress (Mariela Vitale), Nominated for Best Director, Best Film, Best Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Director, Best Make Up, Best Sound, Best New Actress

Malaga Spanish Film Festival 
- Best Cinematography, Special Jury Award

Tribeca Film Festival 
- Official Section

MoMA (Museum of Modern Art, NY)

Torino International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 
- Best Feature Film

Quotes

“ The film is shot and edited delicately, making every inflection count.” -David D’Arcy, THE SCREEN DAILY

“The Fish Child banks on the sizzle of its pair of young female stars and their enactment of class and erotic tensions to flavor its Sapphic noir melodrama.” -Bill Weber, THE SLANT MAGAZINE

“The Fish Child is an enjoyably dark noir, with great performances from the leads, and wonderful direction from Puenzo.” -Ross McKenzie, THE FILM PILGRIM

“She challenges macho culture and its cruelty and corruption with an unblinking eye.” -Joan Burnett, SEEN MAGAZINE