Official Competition

Official Competition is a Spanish-Argentinian production co-directed by Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat and also co-written by them along with Andres Duprat. Starring Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez, it is a tongue-in-cheek satire mocking the filmmaking industry.

Upon turning 80 years old, a wealthy pharmaceutical businessman reflects on his life and decides that he must add something memorable to his legacy in order to be remembered in a positive light. He arbitrarily chooses to finance a movie, and in order to guarantee its success he picks the best director in the country, the eccentric Lola Cuevas (Cruz), and the two top actors, popular superstar Felix Rivero (Banderas) and respected veteran Ivan Torres (Martinez). What follows is an insightful, albeit caricatured, dive into the initial stages of making a film. The three characters’ self-importance gets in the way of productive rehearsals, and Lola’s bizarre methods create even more tension. Their egos are masked as talent, success, intellect, or whatever trait makes them feel superior to the others. As the conflicts between them escalate, the vacuity that can lie beneath the illusion of the glitzy showbiz world is revealed.

Official Competition mocks the entire acting industry, from the producers who get involved in filmmaking for all the wrong reasons, to the directors who go overboard with their craft and lose touch with reality, the commercial ultra-popular actors who exploit the art form to feed their vanity and vices, and even the serious thespians are portrayed as pretentious and somewhat hypocritical. A movie about making a movie can easily go wrong, but this film does not rely so much on its plot as it does on its characters. In a sense, it is a study of stereotypes, which is a risky enterprise but, thankfully, the committed interpretations of its brilliant cast elevate it to a sound comedy – a comedy that feels refreshing in its approach. Hollywood should take note.

Mersa Auda

Official Competition is released nationwide on 26^th August 2022.

Watch the trailer for Official Competition here: