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A USEFUL LIFE (La Vida Útil)

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A USEFUL LIFE (La Vida Útil)

Director: Federico Veiroj
Uruguay   |   2010   |   63 minutes
Spanish, with subtitles in English
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FILM INFORMATION

ON DVD: Spring/Winter 2013


Uruguay’s official submission to the 2010 Academy Awards


Synopsis After twenty-five years, Cinemateca Uruguaya’s most devoted employee, Jorge (real-life Uruguayan critic Jorge Jellinek), still finds his inspiration in caring for the films and audiences that grace the seats and screen of his beloved arthouse cinema. But when dwindling attendance and diminishing support force the theater to close its doors, Jorge is sent into a world he knows only through the lens of art—and suddenly forced to discover a new passion that transcends his once-celluloid reality. Stylishly framed in black-and-white with brilliantly understated performances, Federico Veiroj’s sly and loving homage to the soul of cinema is a universally appealing gem and knowing charmer about life after the movies.


About the Director Federico Veiroj was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1976. He received a degree in Social Communication from the Catholic University of Uruguay and began making short films in 1996. His first feature film, Acne, was awarded the Films in Progress TVE Award at the 2007 San Sebastián International Film Festival, premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes and went on to receive the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 AFI Festival in Los Angeles. A Useful Life is his second feature film.


Available Screening Formats 35mm, DVD. Digibeta available upon request.


Click here for Non-Theatrical & Exhibition screening information


Featured in the Global Lens 2011 film series.




CAST

Jorge - Jorge Jellinek
Martinez - Manuel Martínez Carril
Paola - Paola Venditto

CREW

Director - Federico Veiroj
Writers - Inés Bortagaray, Arauco Hernandez, Gonzalo Delgado, Federico Veiroj
Executive Producer - Federico Veiroj
Producers - Laura Gutman, Juan Jose Lopez
Director of Photography - Arauco Hernández
Editors - Arauco Hernández, Federico Veiroj
Sound - Raúl Locatelli, Daniel Yafalián
Music - Leo Masliah & Macunamia, Eduardo Fabini
Assistant Director - Manuel Nieto
REVIEWS

“The sensitivity in this segment is a mark to Veiroj’s keen eye towards material and architectural detail surrounding his film, as well as the humor and pleasingly, gently inert humanity embodied in Martínez Carrilo’s affably schlumpy, rarely emotive and entirely effective performance. Definitely one of the festival’s finest films, which I was count my blessings I was able to see in an actual theater, albeit a multiplex and not a cinematheque” –The Daily Notebook

“I strongly encourage anyone in love with cinema not to miss the opportunity to watch this droll film at any festival where it's programmed.” –The Evening Class

“Shot in luscious black and white, "A Useful Life" illustrates the difficulties of maintaining cultural institutions in developing countries.” –Indiewire

“What begins as a seemingly dry work directed purely at cinephiles evolves almost invisibly into a droll romantic comedy, and marks a clear step forward for Veiroj.” –Variety

“Jorge has been working at the Cinematheque in Montevideo, Uruguay, for 25 years. Its imminent closing forces him to take drastic steps and become the star of his own life. Shot in black and white, A Useful Life is an entertaining homage to a life of film.” –Toronto International Film Festival

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

2009
Nominated Best Foreign Film, Spanish Language, GOYA AWARDS
Films in Progress TVE Award, SAN SEBASTIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

2010
Best Director, VALDIVIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Special Mention; Kutxa New Directors, SAN SEBASTIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Coral Grand Prize; Best Film, NEW LATIN AMERICAN CINEMA OF LA HAVANA
Special Mention, WARSAW INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
HAMBURG FILMS FESTIVAL
ZURICH FILM FESTIVAL
PUSAN FILM FESTIVAL

2011
THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
ROTTERDAM FILM FESTIVAL
MIAMI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
GÖTEBORG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
GENEVA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
CARTAGENA FILM FESTIVAL
ADELAIDE FILM FESTIVAL
HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
JERUSALEM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
SARAJEVO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
GASPARILLA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
CHICAGO LATINO FILM FESTIVAL
CINE LAS AMERICAS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL
FESTIVALISSIMO
SCOTTSDALE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
LOS ANGELES LATINO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
FICUNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico International Film Festival)
TOULOUSE LATIN AMERICA FILM FESTIVAL
Best Actor, BAFICI (Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival)
FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINE UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTONOMA DE MEXICO
Special Jury Prize ex-aequo, ISTANBUL FILM FESTIVAL
Special Mention, TRANSYLVANIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Official Selection, SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL

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