''Dark Days'' is an American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed, produced, and photographed by the English documentarian

Marc Singer Marc Singer (born January 29, 1948) is a Canadian-American actor best known for his roles in the '' Beastmaster'' film series, as Mike Donovan in the original 1980s TV series '' V'', and as Matt Cantrell in ''Dallas''. Early life Singer was born ...

that was completed and released in 2000. Shot during the mid-1990s, it follows a group of people who lived in the

Freedom Tunnel The Freedom Tunnel is a railroad tunnel carrying the West Side Line under Riverside Park (Manhattan), Riverside Park in Manhattan, New York City. Used by Amtrak trains to and from Pennsylvania Station (New York City), Pennsylvania Station, it g ...

section of the

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

system at the time.

DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972 in San Jose, California, San Jose, California), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ and record producer. His debut studio album, ''Endtroducing.....,'' was released in 1996. He uses l ...

created new music for the documentary and also let Singer use some of his preexisting songs.

Background

When

arrived in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, he was struck by the number of people he saw living on the streets. He befriended many in New York's homeless community and, after hearing about people who lived underground in abandoned tunnel systems, he met and became close to some members of the

community, which stretched north from Penn Station past

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

. After living in the tunnel on and off for a number of months, Singer decided to create a documentary, even though he had never made a film before, hoping that the project would make enough money for the residents of the tunnel to move into better housing.

Production

The filming took two-and-a-half years. The film's crew consisted of the subjects themselves, who rigged up makeshift lighting and dollies and learned to use a

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, ...

camera with black-and-white film. During filming,

announced it would be forcibly evicting the people living in the tunnels in order to reroute their trains through the tunnel. This announcement, plus the police presence backing the decision, prompted Singer and photographer Margaret Morton to go to the

Coalition for the Homeless Coalition for the Homeless is a not-for-profit advocacy group focused on homelessness in New York. The coalition has engaged in landmark litigation to protect the rights of homeless people, including the right to shelter and the right to vote, ...

for help. Eventually, Singer and Morton managed to secure housing vouchers from the

Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...

for the film's subjects, which enabled them to move out of the tunnels and into their own apartments. The

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

process for the film took years, with delays caused by financial difficulties and Singer's insistence on creative control to protect the tunnel residents. Melissa Neidich was the editor of the film.

Soundtrack

The film features music by

. Included in the score are excerpts from '' Endtroducing.....'' and his

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

with

Unkle Unkle (often stylised as U.N.K.L.E. or UNKLE, occasionally known as UNKLE Sounds) is a British musical outfit founded in 1992 by James Lavelle. Originally categorised as trip hop, the group once included producer DJ Shadow and have employed a ...

, as well as original music he composed for the main theme of the film, which was released on the single "Dark Days".

Release and reception

''Dark Days'' was released in 2000. It won three awards at the 2000

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

( Audience Award Documentary, Excellence in Cinematography Award: Documentary, and Freedom of Expression Award), was chosen as the Senior Programmer's Pick at the 2000 SXSW Film Awards, and was nominated for awards at several other film festivals. The film also won the

Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature The Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards. It is given to the director(s) of the film and since 2014 it is also given to the producers. It was first presented in 2000, with Marc Singer ...

and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary Film.

Tenth anniversary re-release

Oscilloscope Laboratories re-released "Dark Days" theatrically at Cinema Village in New York City on July 1, 2011, as well as on DVD on July 19, 2011. The DVD contains several new features compiled especially for the special tenth anniversary release, including footage of Singer revisiting the

in 2011 and a "where are they now" video that details what happened to the tunnel residents after the documentary was filmed. The film was re-released by Dogwoof Pictures in the U.K., with the

home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...

release including the additional features and interviews.

References

External links

* {{Squatting 2000 films 2000 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about New York City Documentary films about homelessness in the United States Films set on the New York City Subway Subterranea of the United States Sundance Film Festival award–winning films Tunnels in New York City Welfare in New York (state) Squatting in New York City Films about squatting Housing in New York City 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language documentary films