Hidden Away
Theatrical release poster
SpanishA escondidas
Directed byMikel Rueda
Written byMikel Rueda
Produced by
  • Eduardo Barinaga
  • Fernando Díez
  • Karmelo Vivanco
Starring
  • Germán Alcarazu
  • Adil Koukouh
  • Joseba Ugalde
  • Eder Pastor
  • Moussa Echarif
  • Mansour Zakhnini
CinematographyKenneth Oribe
Edited by
  • Alex Argoitia
  • Mikel Rueda
Production
companies
  • Baleuko
  • Bitart New Media
Distributed byVértigo Films
Release dates
Running time
96 minutes
CountrySpain
Languages
  • Spanish
  • Arabic

Hidden Away (Spanish: A escondidas) is a 2014 Spanish romantic drama film written and directed by Mikel Rueda.[1] Filmed in neighbourhoods throughout Bilbao, Rueda's goal was to create a scene that could be from any neighbourhood in any city. Rueda dedicated the project to Álex Angulo, a Basque actor who died in a car crash in July 2014.[2][3] Themes that are present throughout the film are adolescent first love, sociocultural dilemmas, racism and deportation, and connecting emotionally through some of these barriers.[4][5]

Summary

The film follows Rafa and Ibrahim, two teenage boys that befriend each other. Ibrahim is a Moroccan immigrant who does not want to return home. Lost and desperate in the streets of Bilbao, he meets Rafa. Rafa is a typical Spanish middle-class boy that is having problems with his friends and pressures around his sexuality. Once they meet each other, they become inseparable. Rueda captures their friendship as they navigate through Ibra's deportation, racism and their sexual identities.

Cast

Plot

Hidden Away opens up with an introductory visual of Ibra, a 14-year-old Moroccan immigrant, (Adil Koukouh) on the side of a highway, looking for a ride to hitch hike off of. The scene then transitions to a gas station, where Ibra attempts to steal some food but is quickly met by the store clerk. In his introduction to the audience, Youssef (Moussa Echarif) steps in and pays for Ibra's food, and in an interaction with the store clerk, Youssef backs her down by highlighting her assumptions that she made of Ibra because of his race and showing his anger as a result.

Germán Alcarazu (Rafa) makes his first appearance when Rafa and Ibra find themselves in the bathroom of a club at the same time. Some glances are exchanged between the two before Ibra rushes back out to help break up a fight. Once Rafa returns to the dance floor, he finds that it is his friends who are fighting Ibra's friends, and rushes to help break it up as well.

The film then flashes to Rafa and Ibra sharing an intimate moment as they are wrestling on the floor of a room, coming face to face. Following this is a parallel between a day in Rafa's and Ibra's lives. Rafa's day is shown with Guille (Joseba Ugalde) playing video games and smoking weed before school, meanwhile Ibra's is shown as his first day with his new family as he is introduced to others by Youssef.

Rafa and Guille are seen hopping the fence into school where they are met by one of their friends, Javi (Eder Pastor), rolling a joint. As the friend group is talking amongst one another, a group of girls walks into the frame and Marta (Garazi Navarro) waves in Rafa's direction. To this, Javi takes note and proceeds to tease Rafa about it, pushing him to take action and flirt with her in the upcoming weekend.

Rafa and Guille end up talking after a water polo practice and Rafa's discomfort is highlighted when Guille brings up women, more specifically Marta. This visible discomfort is seen in the following scene with Rafa's uneasiness with responding to Marta's text and eventually his hasty response to his mother (Itziar Lazkano) telling him dinner is ready.

In a quick change, Rafa and Ibra have their first direct interaction with one another in which Rafa starts out by talking about water polo to which Ibra promptly walks away. Rafa follows him through an abandoned tunnel area onto a rooftop. Rafa makes attempts to befriend Ibra, some of which fail but eventually, Ibra helps Rafa light a cigarette for the first time. Quickly after, the dawn of their friendship is shown with them sitting on the rooftop, throwing stones at a can stuck in a bush.

Ibra finds out he is going to be making a living selling drugs after he helps Youssef steal from a pharmacy. The pair return to their home at different times and when Ibra returns, Youssef gathers everyone in the building and takes them to the streets where each of them sell drugs and keep a look out for one another.

Both Rafa and Ibra go to the same club with their respective friend groups. However, the night ends with the two friend groups fighting, a continuation of the scene from earlier in the film. Ibra's group gets back home and falls asleep. In the middle of the night, Ibra hears a commotion which turns out to be a scuffle with the police taking away Said, one of Ibra's friends. Ibra and Jose (Alex Angulo) enter the scene trying to fight the police off. This altercation results in Jose and Ibra spending the night in prison.

Later, Rafa is seen walking around Ibra's neighborhood and eventually arrives at the apartment where Ibra is staying and asks Jose where he is. Soon enough, Ibra shows up and invites Rafa to play games and hangout with his friends. This event kindles the friendship between Ibra and Rafa even more as they spend more time together doing activities such as bowling, playing water polo, and taking walks. These events take place over a couple of days and as a result, when Rafa runs into Guille and Javi, they ask him where he has been. Rafa refrains from telling them he was with Ibra and in fact tells them that he would never hangout with someone like him. Rafa then proceeds to go hang out with his friends and after he goes looking for Ibra, only to find that he has left due to fear of being remanded into custody and deported back to Morocco.

Rafa finds Ibra and takes him to the room in which his friends, Guille and Javi, usually hang out. Rafa tells Ibra to stay put and brings him food. The scene evolves into an intimate moment between the two, a scene that was foreshadowed earlier in the film. However the moment is interrupted by Guille and Javi, who storm in making racist and homophobic comments to both of them. After a quick exchange between the two parties, Rafa and Ibra leave and end up at a carnival. There, they are met by Youssef who chases Ibra demanding his money.

After this encounter, Ibra and Rafa end up back at Ibra's apartment where they see Alicia again. The two quickly realize that Alicia has to call the police to notify them that Ibra is back and out of fear, Rafa and Ibra run away. With no one to turn to, Rafa turns to Guille. The two have an emotional goodbye. Guille, knowing that it might be the last time he sees Rafa, starts apologizing, bids him farewell, and gives Rafa all the cash he has to help in anyway he can.

Rafa and Ibra end up in a train station and run into Youssef who puts aside all animosity with Ibra to join forces to leave the country. The three run towards a train leaving for France but Rafa falls down and Youssef tells Ibra to come with him. Ibra refrains and shares a moment with Rafa, says goodbye and returns to a life on the run.

Themes

Hidden Away tackles tough themes throughout the course of the film that include, but are not limited to the following: racism, homosexuality, homophobia, identity, social influences and adolescent love. In the film, Ibra (Adil Koukouh) is seen dealing with various racial prejudice encounters. This can be seen with Ibra's interactions with Rafa's friend group on multiple occasions, some being said straight to his face and others behind his back. An example of one of these interactions can be seen when Rafa's friends including Javi, catch him waiting for Ibra. They begin to ask Rafa where he has been since he has been spending most of his time with Ibra as opposed to his friends, to which Rafa responds by saying he has been helping his family. Guille begins to put pressure on and inquire if Rafa likes men, more specifically Ibra. To this, Rafa responds with frustration and states how he would never be with an Arab, much less an Arab man. This was just one of many instances in the film in which Ibra faced racism. However for Adil Koukouh, when it came to dealing with racism as a part of the role, it was easier for him than others given his background. [6]

Not only is racism a big theme that runs through, but social influences and homophobia are as well.[7] Most of the scenes in which this can be seen in the film are when Rafa (Germán Alcarazu) and his friend group are on screen. One character in specific in which the effect of social influences can be seen is Guille (Joseba Ugalde). At the start of the film he is introduced as Rafa's best friend and as time goes on we see how his interactions with Rafa change. In the film, there is a scene where Rafa and Ibra are sharing a moment and Rafa's friends, Guille, Javi (Eder Pastor), and more, come in. Javi starts to make homophobic comments and looks to Guille for backup as he does so, which Guille provides. The audience is led to believe that Guille has chosen to side with Javi and continues to make comments on Rafa and Ibra. However, later in the film, when Rafa and Ibra show up at Guille's house about to run away, Guille's demeanor changes. In this moment that Rafa and Guille share, despite the last encounter between the two, the audience is shown the same compassionate side that comes with Guille's character.

Release

Hidden Away was first released at the Málaga Film Festival on March 22nd, 2014. It was then released in Spain on October 10th, 2014. Shortly after, in that same month, TLA Releasing bought distribution rights for the United States of America which as a result of overseas success in countries such as France and Germany.

Production

Rueda wanted to center the idea of adolescence and homosexuality in the discussion around Hidden Away. In his own words, he felt that most areas of society feel uncomfortable talking about the sexuality of teenagers.[8] One of interesting aspects of his casting is that he did not want to limit the actors to identifying as gay themselves. His logic behind this process was that, by limiting who could audition, the turnout would be lower and he might not find the actors that he was looking for.[8]

Rueda found that the relationship between Moroccan and queer adolescence had parallel realities that he attempted to explore in the creation of this film. He felt that the way that Spain treats both demographics pushed them to live a escondidas or "hidden away". Rueda contests that Spain lives in a bubble where anyone who challenges that normativity threatens to pop that bubble, creating fear in the normative community. Therefore, some people must live hidden away within, or outside that bubble.[9]

Awards

Although Hidden Away did not win any awards, it was nominated six times. It was also presented at the first LGTBI Life Festival at La Institución Ferial Alicantina (IFA).[10][11][12]

References

  1. ↑ Holland, Jonathan (26 March 2014). "Hidden (A escondidas): Malaga Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  2. ↑ Jiménez, Eneko Ruiz (7 October 2014). "Mikel Rueda dedica su película 'A escondidas' a Álex Angulo". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  3. ↑ 'A escondidas' - RTVE.es (in European Spanish), 10 October 2014, retrieved 14 May 2018
  4. ↑ 20Minutos. "A escondidas - El cine en 20minutos.es". 20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ Lavado, Adrián (10 October 2014). "'A escondidas': Amor desde la frontera". e-cartelera (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  6. ↑ Cascales, Agustín Gómez (9 October 2014). "'A escondidas', o ese primer amor gay adolescente". Shangay (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  7. ↑ Soriano, Juan José Sánchez (10 October 2016). "Illuminado: El Cuarto Oscuro Tendencias discursivas e imaginario queer en la cinematografía española contemporánea". Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Murcia. 15: 12.
  8. 1 2 Gómez Cascales, Agustín (9 October 2014). "'A escondidas', o ese primer amor gay adolescente". Shangay. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  9. ↑ Padrón, Elena. "Mikel Rueda habla sobre su drama gay adolescente "A escondidas"". noticine.com (in European Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  10. ↑ "Música, espectáculos y cine, en el I Festival LGTBI de Alicante". La Vanguardia. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  11. ↑ Rodríguez, Daniel (24 February 2018). "Toño Abad: "Todavía hay cierta LGTBfobia en el marco laboral"". Cadena SER (in European Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  12. ↑ INFORMACION. "IFA acoge el primer festival LGTBI de Alicante". Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  13. ↑ "Málaga Spanish Film Festival (2014)". IMDb. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  14. ↑ fredfilmradio (7 May 2015). "Mikel Rueda - Hidden Away #TGLFF30". Fred Film Radio. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
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