Beneath the streets of London town you’d expect to find a community of mole people or a landfill site, but actually it’s home to the Southwark Gallery, where Crossroads Films was honouring a new film by American director Andrew Wonder. Undercity is the journey Andrew took when he followed urban explorer Steve Duncan through the underground to New York City. At first I was expecting a documentary about the foundations of New York and the history behind it, but instead the film was a suicide mission underneath the city: dodging trains, scaling buildings and navigating underground canals. Awesome.
Andrew told us he met Steve through an internet dating site for urban explorers, and with his help he was able to make a film that he’d been researching for a few years. This wasn’t going to be a standard shoot and needed some more radical film techniques, for example, when running through a train tunnel following your guide there is little time to look down the lens and focus. This is why Andrew learned each focal length for his lens by touch, allowing him to be running or hiding and still have his subject in focus.
What I really admired is that Andrew didn’t just find out about the underground of New York; he actually experienced it, which left me thinking, 'would I have the balls to go exploring the tubes of London?' Probably not. I'm fairly sure it would lead to a short case of death, but still, it’s interesting to think how many ideas we’ve all let slip away because we just didn't turn our brains off and give it a try.
Check out Undercity below or more of Andrew’s work at his website
http://vimeo.com/18280328
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