Big Time

A portrait of award-winning Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who, at just over forty, had already signed several well-known buildings such as the W57 VIA 57 West skyscraper in New York, the Danish National Maritime Museum in Helsingor, the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London. Filmed over seven years, the film follows his professional and personal life. A baseball injury caused a brain cyst which required surgery; the operation is recorded discreetly and Ingels never avoids the camera. From his illness to the opening of his second studio, BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), in New York, at work and on construction sites, to his relationship with his companion – architect Ruth Othero – the director follows him everywhere, trying to understand his determination to get the job done, and the intimate, even tender aspects of his character: a life that only seems easy. “I realized how much pressure he’s under,” the director said.