Dark Days

Dark Days

A 20-year-old filmmaker decides to live with homeless people for two years, down in New York’s abandoned train tunnels: he wants to study the ways in which these people survive – how they feed themselves and keep warm and sleep, how they interact with one another and feel about their situation, what they think about the choices that have brought them to this point, about their mistakes and misadventures, about things they have done that cannot be made right. What emerges, as a result, is a thrilling documentary that allows us to peer at what lies hidden “beneath” the surface of modern city life, one that engages with homelessness not on academic terms – as detached, sociological documentation – but rather with a heartfelt humanity and a genuine capacity for compassion. And if you take into account the fact that the aim of the director, Marc Singer, when shooting this film was to make enough money to get everyone out of the tunnels, you realize that the documentary form, in its greatest moments, is not content simply observing the world: sometimes it – potentially – makes it better too.

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.


Direction: Marc Singer
Cinematography: Marc Singer
Editing: Melissa Neidich
Music: DJ Shadow
Production: Picture Farm Productions
Producers: Marc Singer
Co-producers: Ben Freedman
Executive producer: Paolo Seganti, Randall Mesdon, Morton Swinsky, Gordon Paul
Format: DCP
Color: B/W
Production Country: USA
Production Year: 1999
Duration: 82'
Contact: Oscilloscope Laboratories
Awards/Distinctions: Documentary: Audience Award, Documentary: Cinematography Award, Freedom of Expression Award – Sundance FF 2000, Best Documentary – Los Angeles Film Critics Association 2000, Honorable Mention (Senior Programmers’ Pick) – SXSW Film Festival 2000, Best Documentary – Independent Spirit Awards 2001

Marc Singer

Filmography

1999 Dark Days