VINGT Paris Monthly Cinema Series
Paris PREMIERE
URBAN EXPLORERS: INTO THE DARKNESS
at Le Beverly Cinéma
3 January 2012 @ 21h00
“URBAN EXPLORERS” SUBCULTURE IS THE FOCUS OF A NEW DOCUMENTARY TO SCREEN AT Le Beverly Cinéma in Paris
Director Melody Gilbert's feature documentary features thrill-seeking urban explorers
from Paris and around the world.
In partnership with VINGT Paris Magazine, URBAN EXPLORERS: INTO THE DARKNESS will screen at Le Beverly Cinéma on 03 January 2012 at 21h00. “What better place to screen a film about urban exploration than Le Beverly, the last true porn theatre in Paris?” says Susie Kahlich, editor of the film section at VINGT Paris Magazine, organisers of the evening’s screening. American director Melody Gilbert (www.frozenfeetfilms.com) will introduce the film and answer questions during a Q & A after the screening, along with several Parisian Urban Explorers featured onscreen.
Ms. Gilbert spent three years following “urban explorers” around the globe to uncover the secrets of this unusual and growing international subculture. The film also features some surprisingly beautiful photography from around the globe. The feature-length doc is directed, produced and shot by Ms. Gilbert. Some sections of the film were shot under Paris in the forbidden catacombs.
URBAN EXPLORERS: INTO THE DARKNESS plunges into the world of urban exploration, a growing international subculture of adventure-seekers who explore places where most people would never dream of going. Some do it for the thrill of being where they're not supposed to be and not knowing what lies ahead. Others do it to document history with their cameras before these long-forgotten places are demolished. Ms. Gilbert follows Max Action, Fred BHV, Katwoman, Mr. X, Slim Jim and Turbozutek on as they infiltrate abandoned NASA sites in Florida, aging mental institutions in Glasgow, sewers, drains and even the forbidden Catacombs in Paris.
Ms. Gilbert worked on the film for three years and gained the trust of urban explorers in Minnesota, Miami, Chicago, Orlando, Scotland and France. She attended the first European urban explorers convention in Glasgow. "The only 'urban exploring' I had done prior to making this movie had been as a kid snooping around my neighborhood," Ms. Gilbert said. "But as an adult, you tend to give up that youthful way of looking at the world. So I have really grown to appreciate and love this hobby.” Ms. Gilbert was mesmerized by the photography, the architecture and the sense of history that lives in places where time stands still. "It was definitely exciting, but more importantly there is a powerful and visceral connection with the past that you get when visiting abandoned and forgotten spaces."
URBAN EXPLORERS: INTO THE DARKNESS features an original soundtrack created by David Salmela along with contributions from bands and musicians such as John Munson (Semisonic), The Hopefuls, The Owls, Big Fuckin Skull, Cave Man, Big Quarters, P.O.S. and more. Additional cinematography from Adrian Danciu and the sound mix by Ken Chastain of Pixel Farm.
Melody Gilbert is an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker who shoots, directs edits and produces her films. The Documentary Channel calls her “One of the most fearless filmmakers in contemporary American cinema.”
VINGT Paris Magazine is an online cultural journal focused on art, literature, design, cinema and gastronomic events in Paris and throughout France. With over 25 000 unique visits per month, VINGT Paris Magazine caters to the artistic Anglophone community that keeps strong ties to Paris, whether as full time residents or frequently visiting scholars and artists.
URBAN EXPLORERS: INTO THE DARKNESS
Paris premiere 3 January 2012 at 21h00
Le Beverly Cinéma
14, Rue la Ville-Neuve - 75002 Paris
Métro: Bonne Nouvelles (lines 8, 9) – tickets €10 at door – advance purchase online €12 (includes service charges): http://cineastes.ticketleap.com/urbanexplorers/
LIMITED SEATING!
Contacts presse :
VINGT Paris Magazine: Susie Kahlich 06 50 77 74 03 – news@vingtparis.com
FROZEN FEET FILMS: melody@frozenfeetfilms.com
Click to view the trailer
PRESS QUOTES ABOUT “URBAN EXPLORERS: INTO THE DARKNESS”
“Tapping into a subculture that's fascinating -- particularly at a comfortable armchair's distance -- 'Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness' follows various intrepid folk whose passion is poking into places where few others dare to tread.” ~Variety
"Urban Explorers not only delves into the lives of the people who make this their hobby, but provides interesting insight to the history of civilization's infrastructure.” ~Boston Underground Film Festival
"Director Melody Gilbert (Whole, A Life Without Pain) examines an internet-based subculture of thrill-seeking youths who rappel, climb, and squeeze their way into defunct buildings and other landmarks of urban decay, marveling at "snotsicles" that droop from sewer pipes and appreciating dead factories as if they were national parks. " ~City Pages
"Never one to shy from subjects that many may consider too alien, director Melody Gilbert’s (Whole, Life Without Pain) Urban Explorers uncovers a fascinating subculture and offers a rare opportunity inside a world of odd, and somewhat misunderstood individuals, who willingly bask in the underground frontier. ~Cinequest Film Festival
"Every second is raw, visceral and honest. The director spared no expense and crawled, scaled and hopped with the best of them to keep up and get quality footage." ~UER.CA
"United by their online community and blind to ‘Do Not Enter’ signs, these adventurers are daring, gregarious, intensely curious, and obsessed with physical traces of generations past. ~Chicago Reader
"The thrills of the operations are what suture the film together and provide its backbone, but it wouldn't be nearly as introspective and curious if it weren't for the meticulous awareness of place and the industrial phantasms of human geography." ~MN Daily
" The lively soundtrack and haunting still photography and cinematography keep you watching until the end." ~Metro Magazine
"One of the threads that connects all these characters is that they all see it as an outgrowth of how they behaved as children - asking questions, wanting to know how things work and what's behind the curtain. As you become an adult, exploration becomes less acceptable... but "Urban Explorers" does a good job of whetting one's curiosity. " ~eFILMCRITIC(4****stars)
"Traveling from Minneapolis to Miami to Glasgow to Paris, Gilbert reveals an extraordinary underground world of individuals bonded by their innate sense of curiosity and adventure.“ ~Walker Art Center
This inspires insane amounts of jealousy for someone stuck in Portland, Oregon.
Posted by: Brendan | Jan 13, 2012 at 09:59 PM