[suas] Film Night is back

This Sunday the clocks go back, and suddenly our winter evenings become dark places. So we’re kicking off our winter season of film nights with a movie goes deep underground to meet the homeless people who’ve found shelter in some very dark places.

DARK DAYS
(2001) Directed by Marc Singer, Soundtrack by DJ Shadow

Dark Days is a documentary made by Marc Singer, a British filmmaker. The film follows a group of people living in an abandoned section of the New York City underground railway system. When he relocated from London to Manhattan, Marc Singer was struck by the number of homeless people he had seen throughout the city. Singer had befriended a good number of New York’s homeless and later, after hearing of people living underground in abandoned tunnel systems, he met and became close to a set of folks living in The Freedom Tunnel community stretching north from Penn Station past Harlem. After living with them for a number of months, he decided to create a documentary in order to help them financially. The film’s crew consisted of the subjects themselves, who rigged up makeshift lighting and steadicam dollies, and learned to use a 16mm camera with black & white Kodak film. Singer himself had never been a filmmaker before, and saw the production of Dark Days as a means of gaining better accommodation for the residents of the tunnel. The post-production process took years, as financial difficulties created delays, as did Singer’s insistence of creative control to protect the tunnel residents.

Winner: Audience Award, Sundance 2000 Film Festival
Winner: Freedom of Expression Award, Sundance 2000 Film Festival
Winner: Cinematography Award, Sundance 2000 Film Festival
Winner: Best Documentary Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Winner: Best Documentary Award, 2000 Indie Spirit

“Extraordinary – The Guardian
“A triumph of film making… 5 stars” – Total Film
“An exceptional film… 5 stars” - Uncut

Basement Lecture Theatre 5
17H30, Thursday 01 November

So come and join us for the first film night of the year. It’s free for all SUAS members, and if you’re not a member you can join on the door. We’ll be heading to the pub afterwards for a mild ale and a post-film chat.

Your say, your SUAS 2007/2008

To all new and returning students, welcome back to Sheffield. We hope that you didn’t have to queue for as long as some of us had to at registration…

The first thing that we need to do is elect and set up the 2007/2008 SUAS committee. As you may know, the committee will look remarkably different this year than in previous years: SUAS will no longer be exclusively managed and directed by fifth year students: anyone in any year can volunteer to join the SUAS committee and help shape the society and its activities.

Our first meeting will be on Thursday 4 October at 13h00 in the floor 16 well (that’s the double height space just inside the double doors of the studio on floor sixteen). We need spirited and motivated people to organise SUAS. Lectures, film nights, socials, special events, fundraisers. The 2006/2007 committee will be on hand to answer questions, provide suggestions and highlight successes and problems from previous years.

See you on Thursday…!