WHEN I EXISTED
by Alejandro Damiani & Martin Avdolov
Uruguay-Spain, 2026, 97’
Declared dead by the state, Silvio can’t collect his pension. Entangled in bureaucracy, he must navigate an absurd system to prove that he’s, in fact, alive.
On the first day of retirement, Silvio receives an unsettling message from the bank: according to their records, he is dead. As he is sent from one incompetent clerk to another in an attempt to collect his well-earned pension, he begins to reflect on his life while he navigates the absurd labyrinth of bureaucracy. In a chaotic journey to reclaim his sense of self and feel alive again, Silvio reconnects with the people around him, who remind him that life is more than what is written on paper. A warm social satire about remembering how to live.
Festivals
Tallinn Black Nights IFF – Critics' Picks Competition
Cast & Crew
César Troncoso, Silvia Kutica, Néstor Guzzini
Production company: El Cielo Cine
Producer: Federico Cetta
Coproducers: Doce Entertainment (David Matamoros) & Metropolis Films (Andrés Rosenblatt)
Associate Producers: Moon Ideas (Matías Burgos)
Alejandro Damiani & Martin Avdolov
Alejandro Damiani (Montevideo, 1977) is a Uruguayan director, screenwriter, and visual artist. His films blend humor, absurdity, and a deeply human perspective, with a particular interest in characters facing situations that are as strange as they are recognizable.
Trained in Architecture and Industrial Design, Damiani came to filmmaking after working across nearly every aspect of image-making. This combination of storytelling and visual craft runs through his work, from M.A.M.O.N., the short film that became an international phenomenon, surpassing 14 million views and screening at more than 200 festivals, where it received over 50 awards.
His career has also taken him into television and major international productions. In 2025, his work on the comedy series Y llegaron de noche received Emmy recognition, and he joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, following an extensive career in visual effects for both Latin American and Hollywood films.
In 2026, he presents Cuando yo existía, his feature-film debut , a dark comedy that brings to the big screen something that has always been at the heart of his work: using humor to talk about very serious things.
For Damiani, technique is never the destination. It is simply another tool for telling a good story.
Martín Avdolov (Montevideo, Uruguay, 1976) is a Uruguayan writer and filmmaker.
“When I Existed” is his feature film debut.
As a writer, he has published “Violeta corazón”, “Camba”, “El Corazón Creativo” and “76 historias de Amor”. His short stories have received literary awards and have been published in anthologies of Uruguayan writers.
With more than two decades of experience in creativity, storytelling and audiovisual development, his work combines drama and humor to explore human dilemmas and question the systems, rules and assumptions we take for granted. His stories move between the everyday and the unsettling, through unexpected situations that explore the human condition.
