Thomas Adam - Frankfurt von unten

No Address(en)

This feature-length documentary by Alanis Obomsawin examines the plight of Native people who come to Montreal searching for jobs and a better life. Often arriving without money, friends or jobs, a number of them quickly become part of the homeless population. Both dislocated from their traditional values and alienated from the rest of the population, they are torn between staying and returning home.

Motel(en)

As Niagara Falls transformed from honeymoon capital of the world to Las Vegas North, corporate hotel chains and casinos cast a long shadow over the independent motels that once populated the town. The Continental survived the transition by converting its rooms into affordable housing units, becoming a home for those with few places to go. The night manager, Brian, once a freelance photographer who survived the horrors of war in Vietnam, shares his duties with his colleague Linda. Together they manage both the Continental and the individual struggles of its tenants, providing more than a roof over the heads of those who live under their supervision. Bringing a fresh focus to one of the most photographed places on Earth, director and cinematographer Jesse McCracken develops an intimate and caring portrait of the residents of this modest micro-community set against the backdrop of neon-lit tourist attractions.

The Street(en)

Every day, on the streets of Canada's cities, we pass them on our way to work or school. Bums, beggars, winos, bag people we call them. But who is the person at the end of that outstretched arm? What is life on the street really like? Is there a way off the street? For six years, director Daniel Cross followed the lives of three homeless men who spent much of their time in and around a Montreal subway station. Filmed in a cinema verité style, the film is unique: it humanizes the homeless, breaking down the barrier between us and them, neither moralizing nor offering easy answers. This is a gritty, compelling look at life on the streets that moves beyond the media stereotypes to show both the humanity of the homeless and the street-toughened aspects of their existence.

The Andersson Brothers(sv)

A tender portrayal of four stubborn brothers becomes a touching contemporary Swedish family chronicle about dreams, class, heritage, and the difficulty of connection. The Andersson brothers grew up in a working-class home in Gothenburg. Roy became an internationally acclaimed filmmaker while Ronny ended up as a homeless man. Kjell became a documentary filmmaker, and Leif lives as a disability pensioner.

Nightcrawlers(en)

For five years, Stephen McCoy documented street life in Boston. This is what he captured.

We Were There to Be There(en)

On June 13, 1978, the punk bands the Cramps and the Mutants played a free show for psychiatric patients at the Napa State Hospital in California. We Were There to Be There chronicles the people, politics, and cultural currents that led to the show and its live recording.

Wet House(en)

An unflinching look at life on the fringe, documenting the changing fortunes of residents throughout a year. Encountering humanity within this harrowing reality, a radical care-model offers hope for chronic alcoholism.

Turnaround: A Story of Recovery(en)

The women who seek help at Aurora House share a common illness: they are physically and psychologically dependent on alcohol, prescription drugs, street drugs, or a combination of these. This documentary focuses on the lives of five women at various stages of their rehabilitation. In the supportive and healing atmosphere of women helping other women, they are confronting the issues and feelings they had previously drunk or drugged out of consciousness.

Études sur Paris(fr)

"Paris, Paris, you know, I would eat it..." wrote André Sauvage. An artist close to the avant-gardes, André Sauvage composed the first great filmed portrait of Paris. Its ambitious symphony of a big city marries, on the music composed by Jeff Mills, the changing rhythm of the Belle Époque. Contemporary of the dizzying explorations of Dziga Vertov and Walter Ruttmann, Sauvage is less fascinated by speed than by the repertoire of urban mobility, attentive to the neighborhoods he crosses, always curious about their furtive inhabitants. He draws a portrait of Paris in five studies: Paris-Port, North-South, the islands of Paris, the Little Belt and from the Saint-Jacques tower to the Sainte-Geneviève mountain.

The Edge of the World(fr)

Paris, at night. This is where Jeni, Wenceslas, Christine, Pascal and the others live. Homeless, they haunt the streets and bridges, and corridors of the metro; on the edge of a world where society no longer offers protection. They face us and they talk.

Skid Row(en)

A documentary that chronicles Pras Michel's 9-day experience as a homeless man in downtown Los Angeles. Given a dollar a day to live, his worldview is shattered as he sees firsthand the fight for survival on the violent streets.

Corkscrew(pl)

The final stages of alcohol addiction are juxtaposed with the official attitude of Polish authorities towards the success of the ever-growing national alcohol industry.

I Am Another You(en)

Through the eyes of a young drifter who rejects society's rules and intentionally chooses to live on the streets, Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang explores the meaning of personal freedom – and its limits.

Humble Beauty: Skid Row Artists(en)

A story about talented homeless and formerly homeless fine arts painters in the worst section of Los Angeles known as Skid Row. People will create art no matter how humble the circumstances.

Inuk Woman City Blues(kl)

Follows homeless, addicted and alienated Greenlandic women in Copenhagen, Denmark; includes fragments of Greenlandic culture.

Filha da Rua(pt)

Someone's Daughter, Someone's Son(en)

Now a successful filmmaker, Lorna Tucker was once a teenage runaway sleeping rough on the streets of London. For this frank, forceful and inspiring documentary, she returns to her former haunts and speaks to current and former homeless people about why, twenty-five years later, record numbers of people are still reduced to living on Britain's streets.

Heart of Maguey(es)

Miguel has been dedicating himself to the pulque craft for more than 25 years, however an addiction to drinking almost ends his life.

Under Cover(en)

Some 240,000 women over 55 are at risk of homelessness In Australia – a figure both surprising (owing to this demographic being less likely to speak up about their difficulties) and shocking, given this country’s wealth. Under Cover introduces us to 10 of these people, including a survivor of domestic violence, a former advertising executive, a self-confessed loner and a displaced immigrant, for whom security and shelter are constant unknowns and who, until now, have suffered in silence.

Char... the No Man's Island(en)

Meet Rubel, fourteen years old boy smuggling rice from India to Bangladesh. He has to cross the river Ganga acting as the international border. The same river eroded his home in mainland.