Juan Pablo Rebella,one of Latin America's most talented young screenwriters and directors, isreported to have committed suicide yesterday. His body was found at his housein Montevideo, Uruguay. He was only 32.
Rebella and hislongtime collaborator Pablo Stoll co-directed two shorts and two acclaimedfeatures. They made their debut with 25 Watts, a $26,000 film about a group of slackers shot inblack and white which ended up winning two prizes, included the VPRO TigerAward, at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2001.
Their second film wasthe richly melancholic comedy Whisky, winner of the FIPRESCI Prize and the Regard Original Award at Cannesin 2004.
Whisky, a co-production between Ctrl Z Films (Uruguay),Rizoma Films (Argentina), Wanda Vision (Spain) and Pandora (Germany), was thestory of a lonely 60-year-old man.
It went on to winprizes at Thessaloniki, Tokyo, Huelva, Havana, Gramado and Valencia and was acommercial success in Uruguay where 40.000 tickets were sold, Argentina (70.000admissions), Spain (150.000 admissions), France and many other territories.
Influenced by JimJarmusch's films and New Argentinian Cinema auteurs, such as Raul Perrone andPablo Trapero, Rebella and Stoll had also founded their own film production anddistribution company, Ctrl Z Films, with with Fernando Epstein.
Through Ctrl Z Filmsthey developed and released 25 Watts, Whisky and other featurefilms, video clips and TV series.
They also co-producedthe recent Rotterdam Tiger winner, The Dog Pound, directed by their former assistant Manolo Nieto.
Rebella and Stollwere about to start shooting their third film.
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