Every summer throughout Spain, hundreds of small towns, small cities and major metropolises host open-air public painting competitions. Hundreds of painters, including art school students, retiree-part time painters and full time artists descend upon these towns, commit three to eight hours to finish a painting, and then wait for the judges to make their decision. Winning one of the few awards commands prestige and more important for many, a significant cash prize.

There are hundreds of these competitions known as, Concursos de Pintura Rapida, held in Spain every summer. They are a unique phenomenon in Spain and the number of these competitions has grown rapidly every year. They do not exist in any other country. This film will explore this unique world of Concursos de Pintura Rapida in a country which has produced many of Europe's most famous and groundbreaking painters throughout history. The documentary film will explore artists' personal struggles to follow their creative drive. It will explore internal and external conflicts arising from the human need to create verses the demands the world places on individuals to commercially produce.

t nine in the morning the artists pour into a town toting easels, canvases and paint stained boxes. They register for the competition and then disperse throughout the village. Soon every street corner and alley is filled with hat-wearing painters moving their brushes up and down, glancing between their chosen subject and their canvass. Local townspeople, sheepherders and farmers stroll between the half painted canvases making small comments to each other and the artists. The townspeople will often dress their Sunday best for the festival. Everyone is an art critique for a day.

Two hundred pairs of eyes scan the same townscape, seeking to project their unique vision and interpretation, and spread paint in an effort to transform a white canvass into a celebrated work of art in one day.

>By the afternoon, all the painters bring their finished canvasses to the town square, they are lined up and local judges slowly examine them and take notes. The judges gather for a secret conference. Soon the prizes are announced. The winners raise their paintings over their heads like a prizefighter triumphantly holding up a title belt to applause from the townspeople.

Our camera will follow, throughout one summer season, three very different individuals who regularly compete in these contests. This documentary will immerse the viewer into this unique world through the eyes of this small diverse group of its participants of different ages and levels or experience. The climax of the film will be the concurso de pintura rapida held in September in Madrid's main park, the Retiro. Each year over one thousand people compete in the Retiro. This is considered the most prestigious of all the competitions and gives some of the largest prize money. The winners of this competition have images of their paintings published in Spain's major newspapers and are interviewed on television.

The one-hour documentary will be in Spanish language with subtitles for non Spanish speaking audiences. No voice over will be used. It will be shot in verte style, letting much of the story unfold in natural scenes as they occur. We will also conduct on the spot interviews with it's main characters and other key players in the film to provide the audience with insight into the characters as well as needed information as the story progresses.

This documentary film is being produced independent of any television network. The film is anticipated to show in a variety of film festivals throughout the world and as well as broadcast on television in Europe and the Americas.