A film about the lives of the recently homeless residents of the 90-unit Empress Hotel, a project of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. This supportive housing model creates an environment where people have an opportunity to access social and medical services on site and to take steps in their lives to alter previous hardships.
The hotel is home to a certain clientele — sufferers of mental illness or addiction who have lived on the streets. Not every person can stay on meds or get clean, yet out of chaos and hopelessness, a community is formed. The tenants are vulnerable and stubbornly irascible.
Some are honest, some duplicitous and all--including the therapists, nurses and doctors who serve them— understand how deep addiction is and how hard it is to give up. As Roberta Goodman, hotel manager says, “I don’t have anything to offer that’s better than the feeling you get from, what I’m told, the first time you smoke crack. And everybody’s trying to get back to that first time.”
The film tells the stories of ten of the residents, their interactions, celebrations and some of the services provided. Action moves from the hotel to the streets of the Tenderloin in order to give an insight into the lives of homeless people as they struggle with their demons. (85 minutes, 2009)
This product was added to our catalog on Monday 05 April, 2010.
