Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy is a 2022 American documentary film, written, directed, and produced by Nancy Buirski. It is loosely based on and inspired by Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic by Glenn Frankel.
It had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2022, and was released on June 23, 2023, by Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber. It was shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
The film follows the journey of making and producing Midnight Cowboy (1969), as well as the era the movie was released in.
In May 2021, it was announced Nancy Buirski would direct a documentary film revolving around Midnight Cowboy, based upon the book Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic by Glenn Frankel.
Buriski reached out to cast members from Midnight Cowboy, with Sylvia Miles passing away, and Dustin Hoffman being unavailable to interview.
The film had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2022. It also screened at the Telluride Film Festival on September 4, 2022. In March 2023, Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber acquired distribution rights to the film.