A subterranean symphony that takes us deep below the modern metropolis, The Hidden City transforms the labyrinth of tunnels and sewers beneath Madrid into an otherworldly fantasia.

In the avant-garde spirit of Denis Côté (Joy of Man’s Desiring, MIFF 2014) and the Harvard Sensory Ethnographic Lab (Caniba, MIFF 2018; Leviathan, MIFF 2013), the hypnotic new documentary from Spanish filmmaker Victor Moreno takes a visually abstract, alien-eye view of the vast network of tunnels, sewers, transportation networks and underground stations that lie deep below the surface of Madrid.

Moreno transforms this functional ecosystem into the city’s eerie subconsciousness, following workers who seem to be exploring intergalactic realms, travelling through tunnels that evoke 2001: A Space Odyssey, and capturing the city’s underground menagerie in haunting night vision. A sensory masterpiece that celebrates the power of the mechanical eye, The Hidden City is a big-screen must see.

“In the mind’s eye, the film’s mesmerising imagery echoes past trips through cinema, with Michael Glawogger, John Alton, Alien, and Dziga Vertov all harmonizing in the film’s DNA.” – Film Comment