It is night and Ayan is exhausted. A Somali immigrant who has spent five years struggling to build a life in the West, she wearily boards a bus that will bring her back to the cramped and dingy motel room she and her two daughters call home. Until recently, Ayan had earned enough working two cleaning jobs to rent an inner-city apartment and raise her girls with a taste of western comfort. What little she had left over, she sent to her husband and two sons still struggling to get out of Africa. But when a family crisis overseas requires her to send more money, she falls behind on her rent. The eviction is swift and shocking. The result is her family's frightening downward spiral into the perilous world of FAMILY MOTEL.
FAMILY MOTEL: An Alternative Drama by Helene Klodawsky. Ayan's husband is stranded in a distant refugee camp. Her teenage daughter is giving her attitude. And she's just been slapped with an eviction order. Welcome to FAMILY MOTEL. Stuck in a run-down joint on the wrong side of town - where homeless folks rub shoulders with drag queens and small-time pimps - Ayan fights to make a home for her girls. Family Motel is their story. An immigrant still finding her way in a new land, she's determined to be the agent of her own destiny. Resilient and proud, she draws on her inner strength and practical wisdom to navigate the perils of motel life and obstacles of officialdom. Blending fiction with a timely analysis of the inter-connected issues of homelessness and poverty in contemporary North America, FAMILY MOTEL is an innovative dramatic feature uniting a team of film professionals with a remarkable cast of first-time performers whose real-life experience informs the production.
Canada - 2007 - 1 h 28 mn - HD - Colour
Directed by Helene Klodawsky and co-produced by Instinct Films and the National Film Board of Canada, FAMILY MOTEL was shot in HD in Ottawa, Canada.
Alternative Drama Shot in HD with non-professional cast
Executive producer Sally Bochner Ravida Din Ina Fichman
Creator - collaboration Hodan Shafici Mohamed
Director of photography German Gutierrez
Editor Tony Asimakopoulos
Original music Bertrand Chénier
Casting director Hodan Shafici Mohamed Lois Siegel
1st assistant director André Gaumond
Art director (Sets) Colleen Marchand
Cast Nargis Asha Jibril Sagal Jibril Zainab Saleh Abdirizak M. Gabanow Ilwad Abdulwali Yassin Abdulwali Lou Malouf Becky Dudley R. Fern Goldman Luke Andrades Peter Williams Lauren Aldwinckle Imad Ghadie David Reynolds Lawanda Willar V. Wallace Kuzmicz Robert Simpson Brian Cameron Sanjay Mohanta Barbara Gray Sue Pihlainen John P. Kelly Derek Mackinnon Peter Adamakos Jessica Rochon Zakarea Ali Jerome Xavier Laura Boots Lise Frappier Nicholas Patterson Ilwad Hasassan Yasin Hasassan Gwen Shea Debby Drake Tia Belle Isle Ladislav Matjasko
Production supervisor Andrew Noble
Unit manager Anne Pelloquin
Production coordinator Agatha de Santis
Assistant production coordinator Ken Proulx
Continuity Jonquil Garrick
Sound recordist Esther Auger
Boom operator Nathalie Piché Thierry Collins
Gaffer John Otis
Camera assistant John Otis
2nd unit assistant camera Billy Walsh
Assistant art director Anatoly Ignatiev
Location manager Anne Pelloquin
Driver Nicola Beaudoin
Technical consultant Walter Klymkiw
Unit consultant Steve Boisvert
Translator Hodan Shafici Mohamed Ebyan Bihi
Original concept Helene Klodawsky
Research Helene Klodawsky
Researcher Hodan Shafici Mohamed Dominique Parent Mara Ravins
Consultant Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne David Wilson Bruce Smith Fran Klodawsky
Post-production coordinator Isabelle Bouchard Linda Payette
Technical coordinator Martin Lapointe
Technical director Jérôme Corbeil Simon Cliche Christophe Lygrisse
Technical director - assistant Myriam Bastien Mathieu Lobry
Sound designer Louis Dupire
Dialogue editor Diane Boucher
Foley Alexis Farand
Foley recording Luc Léger
Sound mixer Jean Paul Vialard Serge Boivin
On-line editor Françoise Laprise
Assistant editor Cynthia Beaulieu Philippe Carbonneau Laurie Scullion Josianne Vallerand
VTR operator Samuel Dragon William Bastille Denis
Quality control Virginie Doré-Lemonde Véronique Papillon
Titles Gaspard Gaudreau
Production assistant Ian Tkach
Production accounting Nathalie Bélanger Habib Elias François Legris Thierry Niquel Julie Plouffe Karine Simard
Business & financial affairs Mélanie D'Astous
Marketing manager Moira Keigher
Studio administrator Nickie Merulla Marie Tonto-Donati
Production assistant Miya Kondo
Production Instinct Films, 3401 St Antoine Street, NFB, Box 6100, Centre Ville Stat, H3Z 1X1 Montreal, Canada Tél : +1 514 993 7945 Fax : +1 514 939 2034 E-mail : info@instinctfilms.ca
Co-Production Office National du Film du Canada
Sales Office National du Film du Canada (National Film Board of Canada), 3155 Chemin de la Côte-de-Liesse, St-Laurent, H4N 2N4 Montréal (Québec), Canada Tél : +1 514 283 2703 Fax : +1 514 496 1395 E-mail : international@nfb.ca
Distributors National Film Board of Canada - Canada http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=54475
Artmattan Productions - US http://www.africanfilm.com/FamilyMotel.html
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