Latest news with #FlophouseAmerica
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A Preteen Lives in Abject Poverty in Doc ‘Flophouse America': ‘Making Audiences Want to Rescue Mikal Is the Point'
Norwegian director Monica Strømdahl spent years traveling across the United States, documenting life in cheap hotels also known as flophouses. Then in 2017, she met 11-year-old Mikal in a hotel lobby. Strømdahl had met many children in flophouses, but Mikal was the only child whom she had met born into the situation. Eventually, after building a mutual trust, Mikal and his parents agreed to let Strømdahl film them in their home, where the bathroom doubled as a kitchen, for three years. The result is 'Flophouse America,' a documentary about Mikal, his parents, and the small home that they share. Amid addiction and chaos is a surprising amount of love and hope. The doc makes it clear that Mikal's heartbreaking situation is more common in the U.S. than many people may think. More from Variety Jambika Boards 'Unwelcomed' as the Chilean Film Heads to Hot Docs (EXCLUSIVE) 'Speak' Directors on Making Doc About Teenage Orators: 'I Thought This Would Be the Most Entertaining Way to Help Make Education and Empathy Great Again' 'Militantropos' Acquired by Square Eyes Ahead of Premiere in Cannes' Directors' Fortnight (EXCLUSIVE) Statistics read by Mikal at the beginning of the doc make that clear. 'The official poverty rate in the U.S. is 11.5%, meaning that approximately 34 million people live in poverty,' Mikal says. 'Many low-income families resort to long-term stays in hotels or motels due to a lack of access to affordable housing. About 1 in 10 children, 7.5 million, live in households with at least one parent who has an alcohol abuse disorder.' ''Flophouse America' is filmed in America and in one bedroom, but it's important to remember that millions of children fall through the cracks of society worldwide,' Strømdahl told Variety. 'As documentary filmmakers, we have a duty to hold up a mirror to those cracks. Only by showing what the problem feels like can we begin to do something about it.' Since he was underage while the footage was being shot, Strømdahl waited three years after filming was complete for Mikal to become an adult and to get his consent to share his story. In March, 'Flophouse America' had its world premiere in the main competition section of Copenhagen's documentary festival CPH:DOX. This was followed by screenings at Visions du Réel in Switzerland, Movies That Matter in the Netherlands, and Docville in Belgium. Ahead of the film's screening at Poland's Docs without Gravity fest next month, Variety spoke with Strømdahl. Strømdahl: Mikal's parents let me film because they wanted to be understood. There was a lot of pain in their lives, but also a lot of honesty. They knew they were struggling, but they were also proud to have given Mikal a better upbringing than they had. In their eyes, he was protected from the life they had to endure, and in that sense, they had been very successful. I think they saw the film as a way to tell the truth about addiction, about poverty, and about trying to give the next generation better chances in life. They also trusted that I would treat them with care, not judgment. It was important to me that they knew they had the power in the room, when I was filming or not. Mikal saw the camera as a way to be seen. He's a very perceptive and emotionally intelligent boy. In a home where adult emotions often dominated the space, the camera became a way for him to claim some of it back. He used it, in a sense, as a mirror to show his parents how he felt and what he was going through. He had a hope that the film would help them understand his perspective. We talked about this throughout the process. He was never passive; he was very aware. This dilemma, whether to keep filming or step in, is as old as documentary itself. I never feared for Mikal's immediate safety, but I was deeply concerned about the long-term impact his environment could have on him. That's why I spent so much time with the family: to understand their dynamic, to move with care and intention. And honestly, I think I did intervene by making this film together with the family. I wasn't absent. I stayed in close contact with them throughout, and we made a care plan ensuring Mikal received long-term therapeutic support. I do believe he felt seen and empowered by the process, and by my presence. In a way, making audiences want to rescue Mikal is the point. It didn't surprise me at all; the love was always present. From the very beginning, it was important to me to show the family not just as statistics, but as full, complex human beings. Mikal's parents had a clear goal: to give him a safer, more emotionally open upbringing than they had themselves. They wanted him to feel loved, and they gave him space to express himself at all times. Their way of communicating, their openness, and their emotional honesty are qualities many might envy. That's what I tried to show in the film, not just the struggle, but the connection, the intent, and the humanity that persisted through it all. One of Mikal's motivations for being part of the film was to connect with his parents and help them understand what life was like for him. When we showed the footage to Jason and Mikal together, it became a powerful moment where they were able to connect in a new way. They had conversations they had never had before. It opened up a space for honesty, and I believe it helped in the process of healing. It brought them closer in some ways. This new connection between them will, for me, stand as one of the most important moments in the whole process of making this film. Sales agency Lightbox boarded 'Flophouse America' in March. The film is seeking distribution. 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Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Encampments' Review: Timely Doc Covers 2024 U.S. Campus Protests Through the Eyes of the Students
'The Encampments' could hardly be opening on a more timely date. The documentary, which chronicles the encampments at Columbia from the students' perspective, will hit New York theaters three days after its premiere at CPH:DOX, then expand to Los Angeles a week later. In the lead-up to the film's international screening, two of its protagonists, both students at Columbia University, landed on the front pages of many newspapers: Mahmoud Khalil, arrested by ICE for protesting against the war in Gaza, and Grant Miner, who was expelled by Columbia for the same reason. The film was rushed into release for these reasons. However, its timeliness is not the only reason to see 'The Encampments.' It is also an urgent protest film that carries the same conviction and resolve of the students who organized these demonstrations last spring. Directors Michael T. Workman and Kei Pritsker start the film with news media footage that calls the protestors 'radical,' 'extreme' and 'disgusting,' among other provocative terms. Then the filmmakers turn their lens on three students who were at the forefront of this situation. It's the classic bait-and-switch setup, designed to dispute and explain what you might have heard. More from Variety Lightdox Boards Monica Stromdahl's 'Flophouse America' Ahead of CPH:DOX World Premiere (EXCLUSIVE) Putin Assassination Target Christo Grozev on Why Life Has Become Even More Dangerous: 'The Bad Guys Now Are Seen as Being OK in the U.S.' Sex-Selective Abortions in Armenia, Moldova's Healthcare System, Infertility in Georgia, and More Explored at CPH:DOX The film concentrates on three of the student leaders. Khalil, who is of Palestinian origin, was tasked with presenting his colleagues' demands, as the student negotiator with the university administrators. Miner, who is Jewish, was a student workers union leader. The third is Sueda Polat, a human rights graduate student whose face is the first we see. Through front-facing camera interviews, the three talk about the reasons they joined Columbia and why they felt compelled to protest the war in Gaza. Their words are simple, straightforward and clear. Their faces carry the same emotions. They put their demands plainly: They don't want the money they pay Columbia for their education to be used to kill innocent people in Gaza. In their demand that their university not invest in corporations that make weapons, they recall the previous generations of student activists who protested against the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s — a historical linkage that the filmmakers make clear through the use of archival footage. 'The Encampments' tells this story in a linear and easily digestible way. The students started protesting, then demanded divestment from the university board of trustees, a playbook they have successfully followed before amid other conflicts in other parts of the world. When Columbia ignored all their demands, they decided to camp out on the lawns of the university. The filmmakers had open access to the campus and installed themselves close to the action within the tents the students had erected. Though the images might seem familiar to those who followed this story on social media, they take on added resonance in this context, since we see more than just short snippets or newsreels. Longer scenes take in the complete story of what was happening at Columbia at the time, with testimony from the students who led and participated in the movement. Positioned close to the chants and to the loudspeaker proclamations, audiences are transported to the lawns and halls of Columbia, where cameras capture not just the protests but all the other actions that sustained this movement and gave it longevity: the music the students danced to, the food they shared, the poems they read. Acting as cinematographer, Pritsker moves through the tapestry of the many students in action at the encampments, the conviction on their faces filling the frame. The editing is fast and nimble, yet slows down enough when needed to let particularly moving scenes play out in their time with no rush. The seamless cutting from the students' testimony and back to the encampments allows the story to be organically told. This is most effective later in the film, as the encampments spread to other universities. Suddenly, there are interviews with more people, and the story goes from New York to California to Georgia and many other campuses. Through it all, Workman and his co-editor Mahdokht Mahmoudabadi keep it all flowing smoothly, never losing the narrative thread. The music, which is not original to the film, only comes in at a handful of pivotal moments, adding to the tension but also freeing the rest of the film of didactically guiding the audience's emotions. There is no continuous score hammering the emotional highs. Rather, shorter musical pieces are used only when absolutely needed, giving the film a stark, gritty, cinéma vérité style. At only 80 minutes, 'The Encampments' tells a fascinating, ripped-from-the-headlines story. Its brevity is apt, since the incomplete story is still unfolding, and nobody knows where or how it ends. However, as a snapshot of a particular few weeks in which a protest movement was born and spread, it's an effective and prescient documentary. Eerily, in one of the last shots in which Khalil is shown, he's asked by an off-camera voice, 'What would happen to you if you were deported?' to which he responds, 'I will live.' 'The Encampments' shows that same determination and confidence from other young people who carry the responsibility of attempting change. Best of Variety The Best Albums of the Decade
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lightdox Boards Monica Stromdahl's ‘Flophouse America' Ahead of CPH:DOX World Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)
Sales agency Lightdox has boarded Monica Strømdahl's 'Flophouse America,' which has its world premiere on Wednesday in the main competition section of Copenhagen's documentary festival CPH:DOX. The film follows 12-year-old Mikal, who shares a small room in a cheap hotel, commonly known as a flophouse, with his parents and their cat, Smokey. Their home is marked by chaos and alcohol abuse, but also by love and the hope for a better future. More from Variety How Do Political Docs Stay Alive in New Trump Era? Key Documentary Players Meet at CPH:DOX to Ponder Alternatives After 'Streamers Went to the Right' Putin Assassination Target Christo Grozev on Why Life Has Become Even More Dangerous: 'The Bad Guys Now Are Seen as Being OK in the U.S.' Raina Acquires 'King Matt the First,' Exploring the Bond Between Two Sisters, Ahead of Hot Docs Premiere (EXCLUSIVE) Strømdahl spent years traveling across the U.S., documenting life in these hotels. Eight years ago, she met Mikal, one of many children growing up in this environment. This coming-of-age documentary follows him over three years, capturing the pain of a fractured childhood alongside the warmth and complexity of his family. Lightdox's Anna Berthollet said: 'This extraordinary film unveils the raw and heartbreaking reality of a young boy's fight for hope amidst the chaos of poverty and addiction. Through Monica Strømdahl's compassionate yet unflinching lens, we witness the fragility of life on the margins and gain a powerful perspective on struggles too often overlooked. 'We are committed to defending this film and sharing Mikal's story with the world, as it has the potential to spark much-needed conversations about inequality and the vulnerable children facing these challenges every day.' Siv Lamark is the co-writer and editor. The film is produced by Fri Film's Beathe Hofseth and Siri Natvik. Basalt Film's Eline van Wees is a co-producer. Exec producers are David Sutherland, and Joshua Seftel and Eric Nicols at Smartypants. Norsk Filmdistribusjon is handling distribution in Norway; and Cinema Delicatessen is handling distribution in the Netherlands. Broadcasters on board include RBB/Arte. Best of Variety The Best Celebrity Memoirs to Read This Year: From Chelsea Handler to Anthony Hopkins New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Oscars 2026: First Blind Predictions Including Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone, 'Wicked: For Good' and More
