The Competition
by Angel Borrego Cubero, Spain 2013, 89'
WRITTEN BY: Angel Borrego Cubero   PRODUTION: Office for Strategic Spaces/ Angel Borrego Cubero
CAMERA: Gaël Urzáiz, Loreto García, Sara Verd, Simon Lund, Angel Borrego   DISTRIBUTION: Office for Strategic Spaces/ Angel Borrego Cubero
PHOTOGRAPHY: Simon Lund   LANGUAGE: English, French, Spanish
EDITING: Simon Lund   SUBTITLES: English
PRODUCER: César Bartolomé    

Schermo dell'Arte - Archivio Film
Presented at Lo schermo dell'arte Film Festival 2014

Provocative and disturbing, The Competition brings the TV camera into previously inaccessible territory: behind the scenes of an architectural competition. The first documentary of its kind, the film reveals -with insistent, cruel attention to detail- the backstage action of the final phase of the competition for the National Museum of the Principality of Andorra, in the Pyrenees. Five of the world’s most powerful archistars, Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid and Dominique Perrault confronted each other, using every possible strategy. Following the brutal competition in the three months before the verdict, the film documents salient moments, such as Foster’s withdrawal, due to a change in the regulations (which made the production of the documentary possible), the professional performance of the various teams, forced into insane rhythms and  interminable workdays, and the presentation of the four finalists’ projects before the jury. The film became an event for great media attention, an occasion for the members of the commission and several politicians to be immortalized with the undisputed giants  of international design. The decisive day ends leaving a great question unanswered: will the jury really have the last word in choosing the winner?

Angelo Borrego Cubero 
Architect and director. In is interdisciplinary body of works he deal with the contemporary urban condition. Using mainly site specific installations, new media and video installations, his work has been exhibited in internationally acclaimed venues such as the Art Fair ARCO, the National Museum of Art Reina Sofia, LABoral etc. 

In 1999, he founds Office for Strategic Spaces (OSS), that leads research projects, designs projects for exhibition spaces, urban planning strategies. The Competition is Angel Borrego Cubero's 1st feature documentary.

Selected Filmography
2013 Administrative Landscape 2003 ShinyFlatSmooth; Peace O’Mind 1999 The Chase; Cacharros 1998 Baby y Pipa

www.o-s-s.org


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