Directed by speculative architect Liam Young and written by fiction author Tim Maughan and designed ‘Where the City Can’t See’ is the world’s first narrative fiction film shot entirely with laser scanners. The computer vision systems of driverless cars goggle maps, urban management systems and CCTV surveillance are now fundamentally reshaping urban experience and the cultures of our city. Set in the Chinese owned and controlled Detroit Economic Zone (DEZ) and shot using the same scanning technologies used in autonomous vechicles, we see this near future city through the eyes of the robots that manage it.
Exploring the subcultures that emerge from these new technologies the film follows a group of young car factory workers across a single night, as they drift through the smart city point clouds in a driverless taxi, searching for a place they know exists but that the map doesn’t show. They are part of an underground community that work on the production lines by day but at night, adorn themselves in machine vision camouflage and the tribal masks of anti-facial recognition to enact their escapist fantasies in the hidden spaces of the city. They hack the city and journey through a network of stealth buildings, ruinous landscapes, ghost architectures, anomalies, glitches and sprites, searching for the wilds beyond the machine. We have always found the eccentric and imaginary in the spaces the city can’t see.
Where the City Can’t See is commissioned by Abandon Normal Devices and St Helens Heart of Glass & University of Salford Art Collection. Produced by Liam Young and Abandon Normal Devices, with support from Forestry Commission England’s Forest Art Works and funding from Arts Council England.
Credits
Directed by Liam Young
Screenplay by Tim Maughan
Staring Levon Rector and Monique Sypkens
Choreographer Thomasin Gülgeç
Dancers Thomasin Gülgeç, Eryck Brahmania, Sabrina Gargano, Laura Wood
Post Production Jacob Falk, Daniele Profeta, Paul Krist
Teaser Track 'Deep Breathing' by Shigeto Courtesy of Ghostly Records
Technical Consultants Scatter
LIDAR Costumes Liam Young and Jennifer Chen
Facial Camouflage Consultant Adam Harvey
Special Thanks Alexey Marfin
UK Crew
Assistant Director Jennifer Chen
Styling by Elizabeth Black and Susan Marsh
Hair by Kaizo Hair / Shoreditch
Makeup by Philippe Miletto
Produced by AND Festival
LA Crew
On Location Jacob Falk and Alexey Marfin
Makeup Cheyanne Armstrong
Photograher Eva Huang
Runners Hamzah Mohammed and Jiansen Huang
Additional support from Leica, Ghostly Records