The Tunnel
2021 · 16m · UK
Directed by Arash Ashtiani
Three refugees run the race of their lives through the 50-kilometer Eurotunnel from Calais to Dover, racing against high-speed trains in a five-hour window to reach the UK and claim asylum.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Three refugees running the 50-kilometer Eurotunnel against high-speed trains, with practical Hornby train-set miniatures for the harrowing parts — that craft decision alone earns my attention. Sixteen minutes that probably actually deliver.
Building Eurotunnel terror through Hornby-scale practical miniatures in service of a refugee story is the kind of craft-meets-conscience choice that elevates the project — Sin Nombre is the right comparison. Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere at sixteen minutes; sustained.
16:14, 149K views, 410 likes, Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere — Eurotunnel-asylum-attempt thriller using Hornby train miniatures for the most dangerous sequences is exactly the kind of practical-effects-serves-social-realism choice that lifts a 'based on true accounts' brief into cinema. Full credited crew; I'd watch this for the miniatures alone.