Hidden Away (2014 film)

Hidden Away (A escondidas) is a 2014 Spanish romantic drama film written and directed by Mikel Rueda. 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. Themes that are present throughout the film are adolescent first love, sociocultural dilemmas, racism and deportation, and connecting emotionally through some of these barriers.

Plot
In Bilbao, 14-year-old middle class student Rafa feels alienated and uncomfortable whenever his friends talk about girls, as he is secretly not attracted to them. To make matters worse, the rest of his group and especially Guille, his best friend, are insistent on pairing him up with Marta, a schoolmate. Rafa is annoyed after Javi, the group's confrontational leader, shares his number with Marta without his permission and she begins texting him.

At water polo training, Rafa becomes interested in a similarly aged boy, which he follows to a rooftop afterwards. The boy is Ibra, a Moroccan migrant who left his family behind and now lives in a juvenile reception center. Although Ibra is not interested in him at first, they soon hit it off by sharing a cigarette and practicing hitting a target with stones.

One night, Rafa and Ibra go to the same club with their respective friends. Peer pressure forces Rafa to awkwardly kiss Marta, making him go to the bathroom to take a break along with Ibra. Once out, a fight has broken up between their groups over a girl, and when things calm down Rafa leaves his friends to go home. Later that night, Ibra and his peers at the center wake up as police attempt to take away Said, one of his friends. Ibra and a caretaker spend the night at prison for trying to intervene.

Rafa begins to hang out with Ibra often, all while he grows more distant from an increasingly concerned Guille and turns down any approach from Marta. Watching the sunset at the beach, Ibra gifts Rafa with a friendship amulet. While waiting for Ibra one afternoon, Rafa unexpectedly comes across his group, who confront him about hearsay of him hanging out with a Moroccan boy. As Ibra discreetly arrives and overhears them, he is hurt to hear Rafa deny the rumors by reassuring them that he would never befriend a Moor. After hanging out with them, Rafa goes looking for Ibra, only to find out that he has left the center due to fear of being deported to Morocco, like Said was, for facing the police.

Unknown to him, Ibra is trying to hitchhike at the countryside. When rain begins, he goes into a gas station and gets caught stealing food. As the storekeepers intend to call the police, Youssef, another migrant, steps in and pays for it. Leaving the station, Ibra is allowed to stay in Youssef's run down apartment, which he shares with other illegal aliens and a severely disabled child under his care. At one point, Ibra unknowingly helps Youssef steal from a pharmacy and then finds out that he will be forced to sell drugs.

Rafa meets up with Ibra again, who confronts him for what he said to his friends. As a result, Rafa apologizes and invites him to the rented room where he hangs out with his group. There, they begin playing and just as they are becoming intimate, Guille, Javi and the rest of the group storm in, making racist and homophobic comments in disbelief. After confronting them, Rafa and Ibra leave and hang out at a fair, where an angered Youssef begins chasing them as Ibra has stolen from him. After evading Youssef, Rafa sanitizes Ibra's injured knee at his home, and they end up sharing a kiss.

Although they visit Ibra's center, they soon leave upon learning that police are coming to deport him. They come across Guille, who apologizes for his previous remarks and gives all the cash he has to them. Rafa and Guille hug each other in tears, bidding farewell. Passing the night at a train station, they help Youssef and his child evade the police, for which Youssef begrudgingly forgives Ibra and explains that their apartment has been seized by the police.

They opt to run towards a train leaving for France, but only Youssef and his child get in, as Rafa falls and Ibra stops to help. Ibra evades the police again and hangs below a truck, returning to a life on the run. At class, a teary-eyed Rafa lovingly holds Ibra's amulet.

Cast

 * Germán Alcarazu as Rafa
 * Adil Koukouh as Ibra
 * Joseba Ugalde as Guille
 * Moussa Echarif as Youssef
 * Ana Wagener as Alicia
 * Álex Angulo as Jose
 * Eder Pastor as Javi
 * Mansour Zakhnini as Said
 * Khalid Chiyar as Rashid
 * Garazi Navarro as Marta
 * Ramón Agirre as Rafa's father
 * Itziar Lazkano as Rafa's mother
 * Sara Cozar as Elisa
 * Reyes Moleres as pharmacist
 * Elena Irureta as María
 * Justi Larrinaga as customer
 * Hamdi Kousairy as Mohamed
 * Oier Tariku Cano as Youssef's brother
 * Aitor Beltrán and Iratxe Hernández as teachers
 * Juan Manuel Rodríguez as police
 * Jon Gómez and Mikel Somiñana as trainers
 * Oier Astorizka and Gorka Cabreras as bathroom boys
 * Adrián Mata, Gontzal Lobato, Ismael Ruiz, Liviu George, Oier Trevilla and Garikoitz Uribesalgo as Rafa's friends
 * Salmane Fana, Jamal Addoui, Youssef Ait, Nabil Assan, Mustapha El Jadydy and Abderraman Otane as Ibra's friends
 * Mohamed Khouyaoui, Asian Ben Said, Mohamed Said, Ayoub Debhi, Mobarel Ouamou and Youssef Bel Hadi as Youssef's group
 * Alejandra Navarro, Yasmina Dos Santos, Zuriñe Lopez and Verónica Pedrueza as Marta's friends
 * Joel Vázquez, Asier Robles, Jorge Pelaz, Iñigo Meca, Egoi Sas, Ibai Zaitegui, Imanol Torres, Garikoitz Manchado and Patxo Telleria as water polo players
 * Emilian Dandu as classmate
 * Alberto Castro, Beñat López and Xabi Fernández as referees
 * Javi Alaiza as unnamed man

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 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.

Not only is racism a big theme that runs through, but social influences and homophobia are as well. Most of the scenes in which this can be seen in the film are when Rafa and his friend group are on screen. One character in specific in which the effect of social influences can be seen is Guille. 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, 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 22, 2014. It was then released in Spain on October 10, 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. 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.

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.

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).


 * 2nd Feroz Awards: Best Poster (Priscila Clementti).
 * Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival: Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Award (Mikel Rueda).
 * Queer Lisboa: Best Feature Film (Mikel Rueda)
 * 24th Actors and Actresses Union Awards: Film: Performance in a Minor Role, Female (Ana Wagener)
 * Málaga Spanish Film Festival: Golden Biznaga: Best Film
 * 30th edition Torino Gay & Lesbian Film Festival: Queer Award