Use Once and Destroy (film)

Last updated
Use Once and Destroy
Directed by John L'Ecuyer
Written byJohn L'Ecuyer
Release date
  • September 1995 (1995-09)(TIFF)
Running time
10 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Use Once and Destroy is a Canadian short film, written and directed by John L'Ecuyer and released in 1995. [1] Created as a student project in L'Ecuyer's second year of film studies at Ryerson University, the film features L'Ecuyer narrating the story of his own prior experiences as a heroin addict. [2]

Made for just $250, [2] the film's genesis resulted from a magazine asking L'Ecuyer to write an article about his experiences as an addict. [1]

The film premiered at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received an honorable mention from the Best Canadian Short Film award jury. [3] L'Ecuyer's feature film debut, Curtis's Charm , premiered at the same festival. [4]

L'Ecuyer subsequently published a memoir of his experiences as a drug addict, also titled Use Once and Destroy, in 1998. [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 Peter Goddard, "Canadian filmmakers excel at short-subject movies and Lawrence Green continues the tradition with Reconstruction". Toronto Star , December 1, 1995.
  2. 1 2 "Special Report: Toronto International Film Festival: Curtis’s Charm". Playback , September 11, 1995.
  3. "Surprise winner for best Canadian film at Toronto Film Festival is Live Bait". Canadian Press, September 17, 1995.
  4. Geoff Pevere, "The romance of junkie paranoia: John L'Ecuyer, director of the heroin tale, Curtis's Charm, feels no repentance for his past. He just transferred his passion for the drug to film". The Globe and Mail , September 14, 1995.
  5. Hal Niedzviecki, "Use Once and Destroy". Quill & Quire , Fall 1998.