The Hidden City

Victor Moreno’s The Hidden City (La cuidad oculta) is a dark, unsettling, almost hallucinogenic journey into an unknown world: the labyrinthine sewer system beneath the city of Madrid, Spain.

Filmed underground over several years, the film offers unprecedented access to the vast network of tunnels, sewers, machinery, and infrastructure that at once sustains—and stands in stark contrast to—the life above it. With otherworldly cinematography and sound design reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and other sci-fi classics, The Hidden City is a contemporary symphony of an underground metropolis that demands to be heard in a darkened theatre and seen on the big screen.

“The documentary duly delivers on all counts — and it’s compelling. Leisurely but never demanding apart from its sheer, inevitable claustrophobia and occasional striking grotesqueness, visually choreographed to within an inch of its life, The Hidden City — a mood piece that’s as much an experience as a movie — has the rare and impressive virtue of slightly rearranging our perspective as we emerge afterwards, blinking.” (Jonathan Holland, The Hollywood Reporter)

The Hidden City by Victor Moreno - trailer from Shellac films on Vimeo.