On a ‘remote’ island in southern Chile, Silvia, a native of the island, names a small dog ‘Yuri’ and dotes on it as though caring for the child she never had. Unlike Silvia, who is cautious and reticent, Yuri is lively and free-spirited. When Yuri suddenly disappears one day, Silvia is forced to confront painful memories from her past that she had been avoiding. As if trying to work through unresolved trauma, Silvia tries to control Yuri, but Yuri is not so easily controlled. As the camera follows Silvia’s inner world and then, at one point, boldly leaps into Yuri’s mind, we encounter not an ‘isolated’ island, but sea, sky, earth, and wind, open to infinity and entangled with one another. It is a moment in which we truly come to sense a planetary communion. In this way, the film asks us to imagine not ‘companionship’ but ‘conflictual coexistence.’
Dominga Sotomayor is a Chilean filmmaker and visual artist. Her debut feature, Thursday Till Sunday (2012), won the Tiger Award for Best Film at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and she received the Leopard Award for Best Direction for Too Late to Die Young (2018). Her photography and video works have been exhibited at Tate Modern in the UK and the the Vnice Art Biennale. Her latest work, La Perra, was screened at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2026.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
