Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness

Twin Cities–based documentarian Melody Gilbert spent three years following a group of “urban explorers” into tunnels, abandoned buildings, and closed tourist attractions. The end result, Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness, is a visually stunning archaeological journey through the forgotten creations of modern civilization. 

Urban Explorers: They are students, punk rockers, parents, professionals, and pretty much any other demographic you can name—all who are committed to exploring, documenting, and preserving forgotten and hidden places.

On Location: Gilbert followed her subjects into some unusual, beautiful, and frightening settings, including Scotland’s abandoned Ravenspark Lunatic Asylum, the tunnels beneath the mills of Minneapolis, and a party in Paris’s catacombs.

Code of Conduct: Though often misrepresented as vandals, terrorists, and graffitists, urban explorers follow a strict code of conduct, which Gilbert summarizes as “Take nothing. Get pictures. Leave nothing behind but footprints.”

Good Material: Gilbert’s past documentaries include Whole, about people who want to be amputees, and Married at the Mall, about weddings at the Mall of America’s Chapel of Love. What captures her interest? “It’s the kind of thing you hear about and go ‘what the f--k?’ I need to learn more about that.”

Aural Settings: Urban Explorers taps the talent of local musicians, with an original score by Dave Salmela (Work of Saws) and contributions by The Owls, The Hopefuls, Kid Dakota, John Munson, Big Quarters, Big F---in Skull, P.O.S., Mark Mallman, and Cave Man.

March 16–17. Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Mpls., 612-375-7600, frozenfeetfilms.com