| Voices In the Tunnels | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Vic David |
| Produced by | Vic David, Eric Oberholtzer and Kenny Chery |
| Written by | Eric Oberholtzer |
| Narrated by | Jennifer Toth |
| Cinematography | Dan Fisher |
| Editing by | Olga Mazurkiewicz |
| Release date(s) | United States: February 10, 2008 |
| Running time | 55 mins |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $147,500 |
Voices in the Tunnels (Formerly titled "In Search of the Mole People") is a 2008 documentary directed by Vic David, a New York filmmaker and a graduate from New York University. This documentary explores the lives of people who lived in the New York subway tunnels.
Contents |
Voices in the Tunnels was released in 2000 before cameras were installed in all parts of the subway tunnels in Manhattan. Previous to this film being made, a book titled The Mole People was written by American author Jennifer Toth, who had researched the mole people after hearing about the urban legend of their existence while tutoring a student and she researched it out of curiosity only to find that it was not a myth, but a fact. After reading this book, director Vic David and writer Eric Oberholtzer interviewed her for this film and then went down to the tunnels where they found people who made homes in those tunnels and had an entire society with their own lifestyles and laws that all who lived down there followed.
The crew made several trips into the tunnels by sneaking in while the train had just passed to avoid collision. While there, they travelled light packing only cameras and batteries to be able to travel quickly in the case of a train coming so they would be able to jump out of the way in time. While there were many interviews conducted, not all people were recorded on camera for various reasons including paranoia and simply not wanting to be caught on camera.
The locations of the film were in the home of Jennifer Toth, who told the story of why she had chosen to research this topic and why she was interested enough in it to write a book about it. Other locations include unspecified locations in the tunnels and one scene inside of the subway after getting out of the tunnels.
The reception of the original film was generally positive even going so far as winning a Telly Award with minor criticism about the people living there being made out to appear as inhuman, but with the re-release of this film, those shortcomings were improved.