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To Do in Minneapolis: Urban Exploration

March 7, 2007 at 5:55 PM | 1 Comment

The authorities see them as a threat, and others just see them as mischievous thrill-seekers. In reality, urban explorers are simply a loosely knit group of ordinary people wishing to document and understand our deteriorating and forgotten urban history. Documentary filmmaker Melody Gilbert (A Life without Pain, Whole) first heard about this subculture through a story about six urban explorers in St. Paul who were arrested as suspected terrorists. 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. "Urban Explorers is not a typical social justice documentary that sets out to change the world. In the end, I hope this film helps people see the world in which they live a little differently than they did before" (Melody Gilbert). 2006, U.S., video, 85 minutes.

Melody Gilbert's film Urban Explorers, which...explores the...exploration activities...of city spelunkers, premieres in Minneapolis next week as part of the Women with Vision Film Festival. If you've ever traveled somewhere and wondered what sits beneath the beaten path--in abandoned buildings, subway tracks, and elsewhere--you'll want to catch Gilbert's documentary about those who not only wonder about, but seek out, the hidden spooky treasures of the city.

@ the Walker Art Center Cinema, March 16 at 9:30 p.m. / March 17 at 4 p.m., $8.

Related Stories:
· Urban Explorers [Official Site]
· Urban Explorers - information and showtimes [Walker Art Center]
· Women with Vision '07 [Official Site]