Dark Days

First time filmmaker Marc Singer creates a powerful, visually striking account of a large homeless community leaving beneath the streets of New York.

The ‘Freedom Tunnel’, a disused Amtrak rail line that stretches from Penn Station to Harlem, had become refuge to New York’s homeless. Singer first became aware of it when he saw someone emerge from a manhole in Manhattan. He ventured into this world, handing out video cameras for people to record their lives. The result, shot in black and white and with music by DJ Shadow, is a profoundly affecting experience.

‘The filmmaker was so invested in the characters and the subject; the homeless people became the crew, and the filmmaker became homeless. The story and the passion that filmmaker invested in it really moved me.’ – AK