DOC NYC, New York’s Documentary Festival, announced its final slate of titles including the world premiere of “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” a new concert film with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band performing their classic album. The film will screen at the Ziegfeld Theatre on November 4. Directed by the Grammy and Emmy award winner Thom Zimny, the film was shot last year at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, NJ in an unconventional manner without any audience in attendance. Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau has said this presentation “best captures the starkness of the original album.” The film will be released on DVD as part of the box set “The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story” later in November. “We wanted to give fans a one night only opportunity to see this spectacular performance on the Ziegfeld’s big screen,” said DOC NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers. A portion of the proceeds from this screening will be donated to the Danny Fund/Melanoma Research Alliance – a non-profit foundation devoted to advancing melanoma research and awareness set up after the 2008 passing of Danny Federici, longtime Springsteen friend and E-Street Band member.
DOC NYC will help launch a new promo campaign of shorts called “Moments of Truth,” in which noteworthy figures (actors, politicians, musicians, etc) describe particular documentary moments that moved them. In the first spot, being released on docnyc.net, Alec Baldwin recalls a moment from the classic Rolling Stones documentary “Gimme Shelter.” David Van Taylor of Lumiere Productions, creator of the documentary history “To Tell the Truth,” will be filming other testimonials during DOC NYC.
Another DOC NYC highlight is the world premiere of “The Road to Carnegie Hall,” directed by Stephen Higgins. The documentary follows musicians around the world who audition on YouTube for a chance to perform at Carnegie Hall. The film culminates in the performance of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra that took place in April 2009 under the direction of classical masters Michael Tilson Thomas and Tan Dun. The screening on November 7 will be followed by a live performance by the cellist Joshua Roman, a young sensation of the classical music world.
In addition to these titles, DOC NYC announced several other special events, retrospective spotlight films, and guests (listed below) – adding to the festival’s previous announcement – that brings the total number of programs to 44 being presented over the course of November 3-9, 2010. For more details, visit the festival web site www.docnyc.net.