Dark Days (2000)

The black-and-white documentary by the Englishman Marc Singer, which filmed the lives of a group of homeless people living underground in New York, is easily reminiscent of du Haibin's "along the Railway", Wang Bing's "Tiexi District" and Edet Belzberg's Children Underground (2001, reflecting the living conditions of street children in Romania). Dark Days was named the best documentary of 2000 by the Los Angeles Film critics Association, and won the Sundance audience favorite Film Award, Free expression Award and Best Photography Award. The last prize was a bit ironic. Mark Singer didn't know anything about photography at that time. When he came to Manhattan from England, he noticed a group of homeless people haunting the city's garbage dumps and street corners, walking down the tunnel at night and living in the huge desolation around the subway. He followed the group around for five and a half years and made the film. The people who make recordings, lights and equipment for him are these tramps. Of course, without the help of the lovely big capitalist: Kodak provided him with film all the way, and Cinevision gave him a camera for two and a half years. ...