Rough Cut (Short)
Director: Wero Rodowicz
Useful is a feature film based on the story of friendship between an elderly famous dancer Barbara and the young journalist Ella, which begins with an aggressive failure of an interview. Barbara, newly arrived in Hamburg from England, within one encounter gets Ella fired from her job just to hire her moments later as her assistant. Together they embark on a journey to Barbara’s old love, Jeanne, who seems to still be living at Lake Maggiore. Barbara, within her cold and elegant energy, opens up to Ella, who herself is grieving the suicide of her sister. Their road trip in an old beautiful car is not only an escapist journey trying to forget the fear of death. It’s seeing two generations of women exchange knowledge despite inbuilt patriarchal jealousy and competitiveness. Dance together naked by the lake, scream at the top of their lungs, discover womanhood. Become each other, themselves, and kiss each other’s wrinkles.