Nov 4, 2012
Q&A with Dark Days director Marc Singer as part of the Homeles Film Festival
seen from Türkiye
seen from Sweden
seen from United States
seen from Brazil
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Guatemala
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from New Zealand
seen from China
seen from Finland
seen from New Zealand
seen from Maldives
seen from Germany
seen from Malaysia
seen from Macao SAR China
seen from China
Q&A with Dark Days director Marc Singer as part of the Homeles Film Festival
Trouble ends with an impression, however utopian, of integrated community. The ‘white folks’ to whom Kimberly did sell her footage (or, presumably, reach some sort of positive financial arrangement) incorporated her music as professional singer/songwriter Kold Medina amply into the film. Roberts’s displacement by the storm and flood and, significantly, her co-authorship of a return narrative (living history that could be filmed and filming history that demanded to be lived) expanded Roberts’s orbit beyond New Orleans: ‘I’m trying to do something different. I see it now. I couldn’t see it before when I was inside.’
Janet Walker, "Moving testimonies and the geography of suffering: Perils and fantasies of belonging after Katrina", Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, February 2010
It was a very large mix of people. There were kids who had run away from home. There were very old men and women of every race—black, white, Hispanic, Asian—and everything in between. The tunnel represented the full spectrum of people. What was most interesting to me was that it wasn’t separated in the same way that communities would tend to separate up top, where people at the time were much more separated by race. In the tunnel, it was much more separated by what you did. So, if you were a drug addict, you tended to live near the other drug addicts. If you were completely clean and sober, you tended to live near others who were clean and sober. If you were a kid, you lived near the other kids. It was a very diverse group of people, and, at the same time, individuals in a group of people. The most important thing was that everybody was an individual. The common bond they shared was that they lived together in the tunnel.
Marc Singer, "Q&A with Marc Singer", Anthem Magazine, July 2011
Starships.
October 29-November 02, 2012
Monday. Went to my only class. Then went to Glendale with Jing and signed papers at the Disney store. Got In-N-Out then went back to school. Helped my little type up her interviews. Went to the pledge meeting. Made the Mean Girls Burn board. Helped our littles on their quiz. Went to Applebee's with Michael and Ashley. Then went home.
Tuesday. Went to my classes. Got pad thai with Der and the world was there too. Went to that In Motion store or something like that. Went back to school. Then went with Glenn, Jeff, and Ash to pick up food at Noodle World then went to Glenn's lowkey churro spot. Went back to school for the IC meeting. Had GBM. Probably the longest and best muggings LOL had a pumpkin auction. Bought my little's pumpkin! Went home after.
Wednesday, HALLOWEEN! Class. Chilled in the union. Went to Der's house and got ready there. Tried to get Chipotle but it was a long ass line so I just ate Flame Broiler. Went to Chi's gbm. Saw Hamilton! LOL went to Diddy Riese afterwards. Then went back to school. CVS, then dropped Der home.
Thursday, LITTLE'S BIRTHDAY (: Class. Helped Marquis with a lesbian scene LOL got my midterm back. Little got me cupcakes and a caramel apple on her birthday -_- went to Cha for Tea with the gym buddies and Jing. Went to Gangsta's Paradise for bingo night. Went to Sanya with Glenn, Joe, Linh, Michael, and Marquis. Went back to Nick's and got ratchet in Stephen's room LOL visited Der then went home.
Friday. Got to sleep in, hella lazy morning. Went to Downtown Disney for an IC event. Didn't get to go inside Disneyland tho ): played hide and seek? LOL it was unorganized but it was still fun. I hid with my little and grand next to shit -_- but yeah, it was a chill IC. Ate at Sonic's after with John, Glenn, Jeff, and Lou. Then went home.
Kimberly Rivers Roberts of Trouble the Water gives a TED talk
Kimberly's star power comes from the music she writes and sings, music that was almost lost in the storm. The moment in the aftermath when she finds it and raps about her feelings will knock you off your feet. At the Sundance Film Festival in January, when the film premiered, that moment got audiences standing and cheering. Never mind Katrina, Kimberly Roberts is the real force of nature. Despite the political incompetence that continues to devastate New Orleans, Kimberly and Scott went home with only positive vibes. The repair needed in their city has gotten Scott a job in construction. And Kimberly's music has attracted producers. No wonder, a glory abides in this woman's voice. "Inspiring" is an overused word in the movie business. But it fits here.
Peter Travers, "Trouble the Water", Rolling Stone, August 21, 2008
Trouble the Water
Kimberly: This is my neighborhood. I know everybody around here. It hurt me to my heart not to see none of my neighbors. My old friend right here Moms used to sit on the porch all day, every day, and just talk to people as they pass by. You know. I miss Moms. You know? I miss all of that. You know what I'm saying? Right here. The other lady. I call her Moms. Another old lady who own this house right here. You know? I used to come over here and sit with this old lady. She owned this house, kept the property up. And just talk, man. You know, and I just miss those days. And it's hurtin' me to know that it's not gonna be the same anymore.
The introductions to the characters include not only their immersion in the middle class values exemplified by emphasizing work and, especially, workin’ on the house—civilizing the underground. The opening also provides a space in which each subject can tell his or her story, which explains how each ended up homeless but fled the city—first, as Greg puts it, to “get out of the public eyesight,” but then “this fuckin’ became home.” Even though Henry tells Tommy that “houses stop you from being helpless, not from being homeless,” according to their narratives each subject seems to have made a home underground that would be impossible on the streets above. Ralph explains how crack made him homeless and lost him his family. And Tommy tells about his escape from a family that “couldn’t treat him like a human being.” These introductions move the narrative forward because they allow us to view the contrast between the hell of living on the street and the homes and families they have built below ground.
Joseph Heumann & Robin L. Murray, "Dark Days: A narrative of environmental adaptation", Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, Winter 2006