A short documentary about urban-exploration in Paris.
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"Some people living here don't even know that these places exist."
Some impressions of Paris’s urban landscape
We had four days to film what ever we want in a city no one of us had experience with. The result is an assemble of what we manage to capture over this short period of time while trying to treat every space we visited with the upmost respect. Thanks to all the locals putting their trust in us with this project.
Every place and object in this piece has it’s own junk of history. As foreign tourists we don’t even dare to summarize the huge and complex underground society of Paris. This piece just scratches the surface of what people explore, create and maintain in this city. One day, with more time and help of local explorers and artists, we hope to bring you a more in depth project of Paris’s exploration,- and art-scene. But for now this is all we got.
Infiltrating the Metro
One of the worlds oldest subway-system
People worldwide visit Paris for it’s iconic underground-structures. Some of them are metro-tunnels and trains containing historical art in form of architecture, advertising and graffiti. To get to those places, explorers and artists have to enter the tunnels illegally in many different ways. All of them can be performed without leaving any trace. That’s the beauty of Paris.
Abandoned platforms
We managed to film at some of the famous ghost-stations of Paris. While a constant flow of public transit pushes the population along, time at the abandoned stations seems to stand still.
Fully autonomous trains
While the metro-system might be the worlds oldest, public transportation is highly advanced. With barely a meter to walk passing Paris’s fastest moving trains is a fullbody-experience.
Filming in the tunnels
The metro-tunnels are a dangerous place. Constant dodging passing trains and jumping over exposed, live third rails is stressful and made filming really hard. We had two options for entering the tunnels. Either during daytime to avoid workers or nighttime to avoid traffic. Still Whenever we took more time to setup more complicated equipment, workers would spot us, so we had to ran all that equipment out of the entire system.
You don't have to be a train-enthusiast to understand the thrill of walking the metro
Hunt for the best views
Not as often will you encounter a city where the salome goal is not to just reach the highest points but also getting as close as possible to historic constructions. Enjoing them in piece while hundreds of tourists are cramp below you.
Starring at peaks
Paris downtown holds the city's highest buildings. A lot of urban expression is happening there even though the overall impression is polished. Skateboarding, swimming and dancing between national guards, police and business people. So it's not uncommon for people to check out the sites and climb them when ever a new skyscraper gets build. Some of them are highly guarded, others are accessable easy.
Climbing Roofs
Walking above the city
Paris has it's own visual language when it comes to architecture. Through out a big part of the city the top constructions of housing consists of mostly flat, metalsheet-roofs which are perfect to walk on. Paired with Paris's organic layout it feels like you can endlessly traverse from roof to roof.
Roofing as part of the urban culture
A lot of residents seem to be used to people climbing, walking and jumping above and around their living spaces. Not always did we encounter angry neighbors. As we tryed our best to not break off lose pipes, chimneys and gutters, which would have been fatal, families where watching with their kids, taking photos or having a chat.
Entering the Catacombs
Moving underneath the city
Paris's catacombs are a huge cavesystem and an iconic spot for explorers around the world. Unlike the official catacombs where everything is arranged and displayed for paying visitor, the illegal tunnels are an assamble of randomness, chaos, art, life and death.
We entered through a manhole and exited through the famous La Petite Ceinture, walking for four hours through water, human bones and cold rock to experience the graves and underground art.
We entered through a manhole and exited through the famous La Petite Ceinture, walking for four hours through water, human bones and cold rock to experience the graves and underground art.
Enter at our own risk
With more than 300km of complex tunnel-system the catacombs can be a dangerous place. Pathways, holes and rooms look the same, a chaos of graffiti the only point of orientation. With no phone reseption visitors get lost easily after a few turns, can get robed and sexual assaulted. Entering the catacombs is illegal although the fines are low.
Filming in the catacombs
Having camera gear around your neck, balancing ledges in the water while never beeing able to stand straight is a constant struggle. Down there cameras or tourists in general are not that appreciated which made encounters with other visitors or catas a bit tense. The people we met where always nice though. The stories they told us where frightening never the less.
