Dark Days
Post-film Panel Discussion
SATURDAY 6 MAY 2023 | 4:15PM
ACMI
Film Synopsis
Dark Days is the remarkable story of a community living in the underground train tunnels beneath New York City during the 1990s.
For years, a community of homeless people took root in the train tunnels, braving dangerous conditions and perpetual night. Exploring this surprisingly domestic subterranean world, Dark Days unearths a way of life unimaginable to those above. Through stories simultaneously heart-breaking, hilarious, intimate, and off the cuff, the individuals reveal their reasons for taking refuge and their struggle to survive underground.
Filmed in striking black and white with a crew comprised of the tunnel’s inhabitants and scored by legendary turntablist DJ Shadow, this creative collaboration remains a soulful and enduring document of life on the fringe. Awarded the Freedom of Expression Award, Cinematography Award and Audience Award at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, it remains the only documentary to receive that many accolades.
“A Film of Staggering Force.”
— Peter Travers, Rolling StoneFilm Info
Rating: Unclassified 15+
Director: Marc Singer
Country: USA
Year: 2000
Duration: 82 minutes
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Awards: 2001 Independent Spirit Awards – Best Documentary, 2000 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards – Best Documentary, 2000 Sundance Film Festival – Documentary Audience Award, Documentary, Cinematography Award and Freedom of Express Award, 2000 SXSW Film Festival – SXSW Competition Award (Honorable Mention) – Senior Programmers’ Pick
Content Warning: Contains distressing content and drug use
Screening Location: ACMI Federation Square, Melbourne | Plan your visit to ACMI
Accessibility: Wheelchair
Post-film Panel Discussion
This rarely-screened emotionally impactful documentary will be followed by a panel discussion with Laura Mahoney from Launch Housing, Nicole Bartholomeusz from CoHealth, and Brea Dorsett from Homie, bringing this film into a modern setting through discussions of the housing crisis in Melbourne today.
Laura Mahoney
Chief Impact Officer (and Acting CEO), Launch Housing
Laura is passionate about ending homelessness by understanding what works and why, to ensure the organisation’s services achieve the best outcomes they can for clients. She firmly believes that homelessness is not a choice. Understanding the systemic and structural reasons behind our housing crisis, multi-generational poverty and inequitable access to services and education has been a central theme of her career. Including knowing that poverty and family violence drive homelessness, that housing is healthcare, and that when children grow up with housing instability, this cycle can continue into future generations.
Laura is an experienced leader in service design, policy reform and implementation, and the delivery of complex program evaluations and organisation reviews. Earlier in her career, Laura spent time in government policy roles across the youth, education and infrastructure sectors then moving into consulting.
Launch Housing is powering the recently launched Melbourne Zero campaign to build a movement of Melburnians to end homelessness,
Nicole Bartholomeusz
Chief Executive Officer, CoHealth
Nicole has worked extensively in public health and government in executive and non-executive roles for over 20 years and has been Chief Executive at cohealth since 2019 having served in a range of leadership roles in community health since 2006.
Nicole is passionate about community health and committed to the mission of improving health in partnership with individuals and the community. Social justice and health equity are the core principles of her decision-making and key drivers of her advocacy priorities. She feels privileged to have led an organisation that has consistently delivered outstanding services for communities who experience disadvantage.
With her clinical background, governance experience and expertise in primary care and the acute sector, Nicole is uniquely positioned to understand the Australian healthcare landscape, navigate change and lead system reform. Nicole’s commitment to address the social determinants of health has led her to pursue policy change beyond health system reform, as Co-Chair of the Australian Health, Housing and Homelessness Network; as well as on the Boards of Dental Health Services Victoria, the Victorian Healthcare Association and the Western Metropolitan Interim Regional Board.
Brea Dorsett
Mentor, Researcher, Advocate, Foyers Alumni
Brea (pronounced Bree) is a proud feminist, mentor, researcher and advocate showing up as the person she needed when she was younger. As someone who has experienced a range of adversity from youth homelessness to mental illness, Brea feels that it is her duty to share the skills developed from her journey with others to prevent them experiencing the heart ache she has faced.
Brea is actively involved in the community she grew up in of Greater Shepparton, Yorta Yorta Country, giving back through her volunteer work delivering workshops to homeless youth, undergoing research internships, offering her time to Youth Parliament and empowering women through her role as mentor for the Flamingo Project based in Shepparton. Within the last year Brea has helped pass a bill in the 2022 Victorian Youth Parliament for a mandatory Youth Work Readiness Program which passed unopposed in the legislative council and been nominated for the Victorian 7NEWS Australia’s Young Achiever Awards. Brea is now living in Melbourne, Naarm, and working in the Social Impact team at street brand HoMie, a social enterprise providing employment and training pathways for young people experiencing homelessness or hardship – where Brea gets to live out her passion.