Full December 2009 performance of classic 1978 album is centerpiece of doc fest
Ziegfeld Theatre
141 West 54th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Thursday, November 4, $25, 7:00
Festival runs November 3-9 at the IFC Center and NYU
www.docnyc.net
In December 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN in full in an empty Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, filmed by Thom Zimny, who also directed the current festival hit THE PROMISE: THE MAKING OF DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN. Both films will be included in the DARKNESS box set due November 16, but you can catch the world premiere of the concert November 4 at the Ziegfeld as part of DOC NYC, a seven-day event billed as “New York’s Documentary Festival.” The digital projection of DARKNESS will be followed by a conversation between Zimny and E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg. The festival is being held at the IFC Center and NYU and gets under way Wednesday with a 3-D presentation of Werner Herzog’s CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS at NYU’s Skirball Center; Herzog is one of the focuses of the festival, which will also include screenings of his LAND OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS (1971), WINGS OF HOPE (1999), and MY BEST FIEND (1999), and the iconoclastic director will participate in a conversation at the IFC Center on Thursday. The career of Errol Morris is also being celebrated, with screenings of FIRST PERSON (2001), A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME (1992), THE THIN BLUE LINE (1988), and TABLOID (2010), with Morris on hand for a conversation on November 7 at NYU’s Kimmel Center. The third central figure of the fest is Kevin Brownlow, whose examinations of Hollywood will be on view, including LON CHANEY: A THOUSAND FACES (2000), GARBO (2005), IT HAPPENED HERE (1966), WINSTANLEY (1975), CECIL B. DeMILLE: AMERICAN EPIC (2004), and a double feature of I’M KING KONG! THE EXPLOITS OF MERIAN C. COOPER (2002) and THE TRAMP AND THE DICTATOR (2005). The festival will also be screening such works as Janus Metz’s ARMADILLO, Henry Corra’s THE DISAPPEARANCE OF McKINLEY NOLAN, Josef Birdman Astor’s LOST BOHEMIA, and David Soll’s PUPPET, about downtown artist Dan Hurlin. Many of the screenings will be followed by discussions with the subjects and/or creators.