Work in Progress (En construcción)

Individualist Spanish filmmaker Jose Luis Guerin spent a year and a half filming what happened as a new apartment building was built in the El Chino neighborhood of Barcelona. Guerin eventually shot 110 hours worth of film, and En Construccion distills his record down to a little over two hours. En Construccion focuses less on the practicalities of raising a building than the impact the project has on those who live in the neighborhood, including a teenage couple squatting in a nearby building, an illegal alien looking for work for himself and his son, and a neighborhood girl who becomes infatuated with one of the construction workers. The death of a stray cat and the discovery of a mass grave during construction also points to the tragic losses that are sometimes part and parcel of progress. En Construccion was screened in competition at the 2001 San Sebastian Film Festival.