After 25 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 an appealing gem about life after the movies. In Spanish with English subtitles. Directed by Federico Veiroj. Uruguay’s Official Entry for the 83rd Academy Awards, Best Foreign Language Film.

Useful Life

2010 UY 63 min
Festival Year: 2012
Types: Narrative
Topic: Global Perspectives, Latin American Program