The Platform

The Platform (Spanish: El hoyo, lit. 'The Hole') is a 2019 Spanish dystopian thriller film directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia. The film is set in a large, industrial tower named the "Vertical Self-Management Center." Residents of the tower are imprisoned in the center as punishment for committing crimes. Every month, prisoners switch between the tower's many floors and are fed by a vertically moving platform with food on it. The platform is initially filled with lots of food, and gradually descends through the tower's levels, stopping for a fixed amount of time on each floor. Since the residents of each floor tend to eat as much food as they can, those on the lower floors are unable to eat as much food as those at the top, leading to conflict.

The film's cast includes Iván Massagué, Antonia San Juan, Zorion Eguileor, Emilio Buale Coka and Alexandra Masangkay. It premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where it won the People's Choice Award for Midnight Madness. At TIFF, the film also secured a worldwide streaming deal with Netflix. It was released theatrically in Spain on 8 November 2019 by Festival Films. It received generally positive reviews from critics.