Acne
Acne
Acne
Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico, Spain, USA 2008
directed by
Federico Veiroj
screenplay
Federico Veiroj
cinematography
Barbara Alvarez
music
Adrian Biniez, Federico Deutsch, Daniel Yafalian
sound
Catriel Vildosola
editing
Fernando Epstein
cast:
Alejandro Tocar, Julia Catala, Gustavo Melnik, Belen Pouchan, David Blankleider, Laura Piperno, Yoel Bercovici, Veronica Perrota, Igal Label, Leonor Svarcas
producer
Fernando Epstein
production
Control Z films
co-production
Goliat Films (Mehika), Rizoma Films (Argentina), Avalon Productions (Španija), Morocha Films (Argentina)
world sales
Control Z films
format
35 mm, barvni/colour
running time
87'
Federico Veiroj's directorial debut, Acne, is based on his 2004 short film Bregman, el siguiente. In the feature, the thirteen-year-old Rafa Bregman is faced with the even greater troubles of growing up, love, sexuality, and the typical »attributes« of puberty – acne. But, what vexes him even more is the lack of romance and emotion.
Coming from a Jewish family, Bregman, reaching the age of thirteen, observes an important Jewish 'rite of passage', the Bar Mitzvah ceremony, and is thus initiated into adulthood and the world of sexuality. Absent and wealthy parents, who have just divorced, shower the boy with money, most of which he spends on prostitutes. He therefore has much more sexual experience than his peers. What baffles him above all else is the lack of emotional education and not the lack of sexuality – what he desires most is a real kiss, as the most intimate expression of love. He invests all his efforts to get closer to his pretty schoolmate Nicole, who, for him, embodies the romantic ideal.
The main character's bafflement, slight alienation and depression are, for the most part, a consequence of a mechanical, routine like perception of sexuality, which is considered today to be a completely materialistic and commodity based practice, entirely devoid of all emotional charge.
Through the main character's everyday life, the filmmaker manages to capture this period of emerging sexual desire, raging hormones and a cracked and undefined self-image in an unobtrusive and simple way, with a gentle bittersweet sense of humour. Acne is a convincing »school of emotional education«, especially for parents who have a teenager living under their roof.
Federico Veiroj
Federico Veiroj was born in 1976 in Montevideo, Uruguay. In 2000 he graduated in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Montevideo. He has been directing and producing short films since 1996. His last short film, Bregman, El Siguiente, was screened at more than 60 festivals, receiving numerous awards (Best Film Award at the Gijon International Film Festival in 2004 and Best Spanish Film at Cinema Jove, Valencia in 2005). His directorial debut Acne premiered in Cannes in the Director's Fortnight section. In 2008, it won the International Feature Competition Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 AFI/Los Angeles International Film Festival.
