Dark Days is an American documentary film directed, produced, and photographed by the English documentarian Marc Singer that was completed and released in 2000. Shot during the mid-1990s, it follows a group of people who lived in the Freedom Tunnel section of the Amtrak system at the time. DJ Shadow created new music for the documentary and also let Singer use some of his existing songs.
Background
When Marc Singer arrived in Manhattan, 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 Freedom Tunnel community, which stretched north from Penn Station past Harlem.
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 camera with black-and-white film.
During filming, Amtrak 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 for help. Eventually, Singer and Morton managed to secure housing vouchers from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the film's subjects, which enabled them to move out of the tunnels and into their own apartments.
Release and reception
Dark Days was released in 2000. It won three awards at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival (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 the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary Film.