{ "id": "eppd4yj7f7", "slug": "25-watts", "title": "25 Watts", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2000-to-2002", "label": "Comedies of 2000 to 2002", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2000-to-2002" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2000-to-2002.comedies-of-2001", "label": "Comedies of 2001", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2000-to-2002.comedies-of-2001" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 2001 to 2020: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.latam", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "25 Watts (2001) is the debut feature of Uruguayan directors Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, a black-and-white 16 mm comedy-drama following three idle Montevideo friends for 24 hours; it won the 2001 Rotterdam Tiger Award.", "snippet": "25 Watts (2001) is the debut feature of Uruguayan directors Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, a black-and-white 16 mm comedy-drama following three idle Montevideo friends for 24 hours; it won the 2001 Rotterdam Tiger Award.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2000-to-2002.comedies-of-2001", "markdown": "# 25 Watts\n\n**25 Watts** is a 2001 Uruguayan black-and-white comedy-drama directed and written by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, their first feature film. It follows 24 hours in the lives of three idle young men, Leche, Javi, and Seba, in a [Montevideo](https://www.edgepedia.org/montevideo) neighborhood on an ordinary summer Saturday, and it won the Tiger Award, the top prize, at the 2001 Rotterdam International Film Festival.[1](https://www.cinedata.uy/catalogo/25-watts) • [2](https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/slas2013/paper/14467)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Directors and writers | Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, both then around 26 years old; their feature debut[1](https://www.cinedata.uy/catalogo/25-watts) • [3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) |\n| Premise | 24 hours, from Saturday dawn to Sunday, in the lives of three twenty-something friends in Montevideo[4](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/cine/el-exito-del-cine-uruguayo-nid349275/) |\n| Cast | Daniel Hendler (Leche), Jorge Temponi (Javi), Alfonso Tort (Seba), with Walter Reyno as Javi's boss[1](https://www.cinedata.uy/catalogo/25-watts) • [5](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-38561/) |\n| Format | Shot on 16 mm in black and white over 23 days in February 2000; blown up to 35 mm for exhibition[6](https://www.montevideo.com.uy/Archivo/A-18-anos-de-su-estreno-25-Watts-vuelve-al-cine-uc732302) • [3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) |\n| Funding | A US$15,000 grant from the Fondo Capital; the crew worked without pay[7](https://cinemateca.org.uy/blog/noticias-1/breve-historia-de-25-watts-7) |\n| Signature award | Tiger Award for best film, Rotterdam International Film Festival, 2001[2](https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/slas2013/paper/14467) |\n| Uruguayan release | Festival screening 21 April 2001 at Cinemateca; commercial release 1 June 2001[8](https://cartelera.montevideo.com.uy/cinestrenos/buscar?interpretes=Walter+Reyno) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and characters\n\nThe film opens at 7 a.m. on a summer Saturday in Montevideo, where Leche, Javi, and Seba, having been up all night, sit on their usual wall drinking beer.[9](https://cinemateca.org.uy/peliculas/618) Leche (Daniel Hendler) has just stepped in dog excrement and is convinced bad luck will follow him everywhere; he owes an Italian exam, the last he needs to finish secondary school, and has fallen for his young tutor Beatriz (Carolina Presno).[9](https://cinemateca.org.uy/peliculas/618) Javi (Jorge Temponi) has finished school without entering university and in a few hours must start a job he hates, driving a car with a loudspeaker on the roof advertising a pasta factory, while his boss (Walter Reyno) lectures him about responsibility.[9](https://cinemateca.org.uy/peliculas/618) Seba (Alfonso Tort), the quiet youngest of the three, sets out meaning to go home and watch a pornographic film but instead drifts through the neighborhood, where the strangest characters and situations seem to pursue him.[9](https://cinemateca.org.uy/peliculas/618) • [3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/)\n\nAround this minimal thread the film arranges a gallery of neighborhood figures: a doped-up grandmother, a video-club owner, a paranoid pizza delivery man, a fake hippie who talks nonsense, and a former soldier turned pizza courier.[4](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/cine/el-exito-del-cine-uruguayo-nid349275/) • [10](https://iffr.com/nl/iffr/2001/films/25-watts) The directors' stated aim was to show 24 hours that would stand for all the days of their characters' lives, without a final reflection or an evolution of the characters.[3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) The title alludes to the weak wattage of the protagonists' ideas; an earlier candidate title was *Envases vacíos* (Empty Containers).[4](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/cine/el-exito-del-cine-uruguayo-nid349275/)\n\n## Origins and writing\n\nRebella and Stoll met as students of Social Communication at the Catholic University of Uruguay, where they gathered a circle that included Fernando Epstein, Gonzalo Delgado, Inés Bortagaray, Federico Veiroj, Arauco Hernández, and Daniel Hendler.[3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) Writing began around 1996, five years before the premiere.[3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) The first script title was *Stooges*, followed by *Maldición Ultratón* and *Estuches*, before the film settled on *25 Watts*.[11](https://latidobeat.uy/Beat/25-anos-de-25-Watts-y-una-vision-de-Montevideo-que-sigue-vigente-uc965244) The screenplay was a semifinalist in the Sundance Institute's script competition.[4](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/cine/el-exito-del-cine-uruguayo-nid349275/)\n\n## Production\n\nLike nearly all Uruguayan audiovisual projects of the time, the film lacked money. An application to FONA, the national audiovisual development fund, yielded nothing.[3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) The decisive grant came from the Fondo Capital, worth 15,000 dollars; the crew, including cinematographer Bárbara Álvarez and art director Gonzalo Delgado, agreed to work without pay.[7](https://cinemateca.org.uy/blog/noticias-1/breve-historia-de-25-watts-7) Published budget figures differ: the production sheet lists USD 15,000, the same project's narrative describes a budget of about 25,000 dollars, and the Cinedata database records US$200,000.[3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) • [1](https://www.cinedata.uy/catalogo/25-watts)\n\nAfter a full year of preproduction in 1999, the film was shot in February 2000 in 23 days, in the Larrañaga and La Blanqueada neighborhoods of Montevideo, with equipment rented from Buenos Aires.[6](https://www.montevideo.com.uy/Archivo/A-18-anos-de-su-estreno-25-Watts-vuelve-al-cine-uc732302) • [3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) The black-and-white 16 mm stock was scarce, allowing about four takes per scene.[3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) Editing took another year, done at night by Epstein, Rebella, and Stoll while each held day jobs; the finished video edit was then blown up to 35 mm for theatrical exhibition.[6](https://www.montevideo.com.uy/Archivo/A-18-anos-de-su-estreno-25-Watts-vuelve-al-cine-uc732302) • [3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) The directors also handled the film's distribution in Uruguay themselves.[12](https://www.cinelatino.fr/sites/default/files/lesdossiers/25_watts.pdf)\n\n## Release and awards\n\nThe film premiered for Uruguayan audiences on 21 April 2001 at the XIX Cinemateca International Festival, with regular commercial exhibition from 1 June 2001.[8](https://cartelera.montevideo.com.uy/cinestrenos/buscar?interpretes=Walter+Reyno) At Rotterdam it won the VPRO Tiger Award, the festival's main prize, and the MovieZone young-jury prize.[3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) Further 2001 honors included best male performance and the FIPRESCI prize at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, best screenplay at the Lima Festival, special jury mentions at Cinema Jove in Valencia and the Bogotá Film Festival, best feature at L'Alternativa in Barcelona, and the Coral Prize for best first feature at the Havana Festival.[3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) Uruguayan critics' group FIPRESCI named it the best Uruguayan release of the year.[8](https://cartelera.montevideo.com.uy/cinestrenos/buscar?interpretes=Walter+Reyno) In Uruguay it was reported as the third-best Uruguayan box-office opening and, for a period, the second most-viewed film in the country.[4](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/cine/el-exito-del-cine-uruguayo-nid349275/) • [13](https://www.lr21.com.uy/cultura/49894-una-idea-uruguaya-con-mas-de-25-watts)\n\n## Significance\n\nCommentators describe *25 Watts* as the point at which Uruguayan cinema was first seriously noticed internationally, prompting new interest in the national cinema from inside and outside the country.[14](https://nextprojection.com/2011/12/08/review-25-watts-2001/) Its success marked the beginning of Control Z Films, described as the most prolific Uruguayan production company, and it is counted among the works that established the \"new Uruguayan cinema\" of the early 2000s.[2](https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/slas2013/paper/14467) • [15](https://www.fesaal.org/post/uruguay-emerging-talents-in-a-country-advancing-the-rights-of-its-audiovisual-authors?lang=en) The same team of Uruguayan technicians regrouped for the directors' second feature, *Whisky* (2004), which won the FIPRESCI Award at Cannes; Rebella died in 2006 at age 32.[16](https://trigon-film.s3.amazonaws.com/production/media/films/whisky/mediendossierde.pdf) • [17](https://www.clarin.com/internacional/llegan-cine-porteno-muertos-vivos-pablo-stoll-zombi-uruguayo-lento-va-vestido_0_uF8k62Dct6.amp.html) • [3](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/) The film returned to Uruguayan screens for its 18th anniversary, with the poster line \"Un barrio. Tres pibes. 24 horas\" still summarizing its premise.[6](https://www.montevideo.com.uy/Archivo/A-18-anos-de-su-estreno-25-Watts-vuelve-al-cine-uc732302)\n\n## References\n\n1. [25 WATTS, Cinedata, base de datos del cine uruguayo](https://www.cinedata.uy/catalogo/25-watts)\n2. [Independent Films without a Mainstream Cinema: A Close Look at Uruguay, SLAS 2013 conference paper](https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/slas2013/paper/14467)\n3. [25 watts, Un soplo de cine uruguayo, Proyecto 2020, Universidad de Montevideo](https://proyecto2020.um.edu.uy/index.php/25-watts/)\n4. [El éxito del cine uruguayo, La Nación, 7 November 2001](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/cine/el-exito-del-cine-uruguayo-nid349275/)\n5. [25 Watts, SensaCine](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-38561/)\n6. [A 18 años de su estreno, 25 Watts vuelve al cine, Montevideo Portal](https://www.montevideo.com.uy/Archivo/A-18-anos-de-su-estreno-25-Watts-vuelve-al-cine-uc732302)\n7. [Breve historia de 25 Watts, Cinemateca Uruguaya](https://cinemateca.org.uy/blog/noticias-1/breve-historia-de-25-watts-7)\n8. [Cinestrenos, cartelera de Montevideo, ficha de 25 WATTS](https://cartelera.montevideo.com.uy/cinestrenos/buscar?interpretes=Walter+Reyno)\n9. [25 watts, Cinemateca Uruguaya](https://cinemateca.org.uy/peliculas/618)\n10. [25 Watts, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2001](https://iffr.com/nl/iffr/2001/films/25-watts)\n11. [25 años de 25 Watts y una visión de Montevideo que sigue vigente, LatidoBEAT](https://latidobeat.uy/Beat/25-anos-de-25-Watts-y-una-vision-de-Montevideo-que-sigue-vigente-uc965244)\n12. [25 WATTS dossier, Cinélatino, Rencontres de Toulouse](https://www.cinelatino.fr/sites/default/files/lesdossiers/25_watts.pdf)\n13. [Una idea uruguaya con más de 25 watts, LARED21](https://www.lr21.com.uy/cultura/49894-una-idea-uruguaya-con-mas-de-25-watts)\n14. [Review: 25 Watts (2001), Next Projection](https://nextprojection.com/2011/12/08/review-25-watts-2001/)\n15. [Uruguay: Emerging talents in a country advancing the rights of its audiovisual authors, FESAAL](https://www.fesaal.org/post/uruguay-emerging-talents-in-a-country-advancing-the-rights-of-its-audiovisual-authors?lang=en)\n16. [MD Whisky dossier, Trigon-Film](https://trigon-film.s3.amazonaws.com/production/media/films/whisky/mediendossierde.pdf)\n17. [Llegan al cine porteño los muertos vivos de Pablo Stoll, Clarín](https://www.clarin.com/internacional/llegan-cine-porteno-muertos-vivos-pablo-stoll-zombi-uruguayo-lento-va-vestido_0_uF8k62Dct6.amp.html)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2000 to 2002 › Comedies of 2001*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/25-watts", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/25-watts.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"25 Watts\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/25-watts. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[25 Watts](https://www.edgepedia.org/25-watts)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/25-watts](https://www.edgepedia.org/25-watts). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"25 Watts\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/25-watts. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "25 Watts is the debut feature of Uruguayan directors Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, a black-and-white 16 mm comedy-drama following three idle Montevideo friends for 24 hours; it won the 2001 Rotterdam Tiger Award." }