Award Winning Documentary DARWIN Opens in Select Cities

AWARD WINNING DOCU DARWIN – A DOCUMENTARY BY NICK BRANDESTINI OPENS AUGUST 12 IN NEW YORK AT THE IFC CENTER AND AUGUST 19 IN LOS ANGELES AT THE LAEMMLE’S SUNSET 5 CINEMAS

The award winning insightful and moving documentary, DARWIN – A FILM BY NICK BRANDESTINI, takes the viewer on a journey into an isolated community at the end of a weathered road in Death Valley, California. Propelled from society by tragic turns, the people of Darwin (population 35) must now find ways to coexist in a place without a government, a church, jobs, or children. The near-ghost town’s survival depends on a fragile, gravity-fed waterline that descends from the mountains where top-secret weapons are being tested. One “accidental” drop of a bomb could wipe out their entire town joke many of the locals.

Meet:

Monty – The salty old miner mysteriously bound to Darwin since the 1950’s. With the help of his firecracker wife, Nancy, he emerges from a violent history to find the artist within.

Susan – The postmaster. Her hippie idealism and fierce humor are shaken by a tragic estrangement that unexpectedly bonds her with other Darwin residents.

Ryal – The transgendering 20-something for whom “nothing out here for us” is both the attraction and the curse for him and his partner, Penny.

Hank and Connie – Turning their backs on troubled pasts, they embrace Darwin’s peace and quiet, find a new religion and spread the word that Darwin is “just an everyday town now.”

Together with their fellow outsiders, they tell the story of a uniquely American place and yet a place that is unique even within America.

DARWIN is directed, produced, filmed and edited by filmmaker Nick Brandestini and co-produced by Sandra Ruch, The film is written by Taylor Segrest who is also co-producer and co-editor.

A festival favorite at the recent KARLOVY VARY FILM FESTIVAL and SANTA BARBARA FILM FESTIVAL and winner of numerous festival awards including DOC AVIV in Tel Aviv and the BIG SKY FILM FESTIVAL, DARWIN will have its theatrical run beginning in New York on August 12 at the IFC CENTER and in Los Angeles at the LAEMMLE’S SUNSET 5.  For more information, please go to www.darwindoc.com