Austin Film Festival Movie Review: ‘Home is a Hotel’

11/1/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Sylvester Prepares a Skateboard for Painting in his SRO in ‘Home is a Hotel’.

Ask anyone to define the American Dream, and you’ll get back pretty much the same answer. Where everyone asked, will speak to the Dream as being nothing short of a promise to everyone that comes to America in search of a better life. A promise that entails good paying jobs for all, so that those eager for more can get on their feet and find a path forward in the greatest nation in all the land. By building their own successful business, which will allow them to start a new chapter in their life in a new and beautiful home. Where they can grow their family and teach their children the wonder of this promise and how it will benefit them down the line. Which is an answer that is so deeply engrained in everyone’s mind around the world because that is the message that America has sold, and it is the promise that was fulfilled for decades on end.

But in 2023, there are issues with this promise and issues with this dream. Simply because, they are no longer eligible for all as it once was. For there has been a titanic shift in the American economy, where the majority of wealth, the kind that would allow for an immigrant or a citizen to raise capital to be an entrepreneur in the community… has shifted into a handful of accounts. Not to mention, those good paying jobs have faded away and been replaced with stagnant wages that have helped to more or less collapse the Dream. For now, affordable housing is out of reach, and there are people suffering deeply because of it. For some are out on the streets or deeply intertwined with public assistance in the hopes of getting an opportunity to ‘pull up their bootstraps’ to gain a second chance to engage within the Dream.

But alas, that chance never seems to materialize, and the struggle continues and the majority of America, knows nothing of that plight, or of the fight those individuals take part in to have food on the table or a place to live that offers comfort and coziness that so many others enjoy. Which is why it is important to showcase a powerful documentary that is screening at the Austin Film Festival. For Home is a Hotel is a slice of life story from documentarian Kevin Duncan Wong, that takes the time to explore a heartbreaking struggle that is taking place in San Francisco as we speak. For few of us are aware of the fact that San Francisco has made efforts to try and solve some of its homelessness and low-income problems by repurposing empty hotels into temporary housing, referred to as Single Room Occupancy or SRO housing.

Christina and Her Daughter in their SRO in ‘Home is a Hotel’.

A move that yes, has put people inside warm homes that aren’t the streets, but has failed them in so many ways. Since we come to learn here that this temporary housing becomes long-term housing for so many because of the system, and its failures, and the systemic issues with public housing, has more or less made these people forgotten and that alone makes for a powerful tale. But more importantly, this is a documentary that puts that aforementioned struggle on display. Where we can finally see how many people still believe in a dream that may no longer exist and are eager to enjoy a taste of it and look to it for hope in very trying times. Because the five individuals spotlighted in this story, really are fighting tooth and nail to find a better tomorrow, and really lean into hope and what it produces and that brings forth a documentary unlike any other out there. Since these stories are handled without bias or message, it is just life in the raw in the SRO community and the power of this documentary doesn’t end there.

For not only are we deeply educated on this problem and exposed to a reality about our country that few of us were aware of, but we are also immersed within an incredible story about the human condition. One that speaks to our resiliency since none of these individuals ever throw in the towel or give into the potential ugly fate that looms before them, regardless of the hardships they deal with in this story, and they do indeed deal with some TOUGH hardships for certain. But while their lives are indeed tough, there is beauty of be found in their lives as well. Gentle moments that speak to the wonder of who we are, of the majesty we inspire and that lends a special gravity to this story. For it reminds us… that it is a broken system that has created this this suffering, but it hasn’t destroyed what makes us human, what makes us special, and that in turn brings forth the most important lesson of all in this story.

In that, it is critical to recognize that while the people in this story have endured struggles with mental health, homelessness, poverty and hardships and moments none of us ever want to face, they are in fact… still people. People that live differently than us, but they are still people, and somehow… American society has forgotten that. It has become its own divide of the have and the have nots, when in fact… people are suffering over that divide, and they don’t need to. Which means at its core, Home is a Hotel is a documentary that does more than educate… it tasks the viewer. Tasks them to really think about how we can make an impact in our communities and demand better of our governments and the businesses that claim record profits but leave their hardest and most loyal employees struggling to keep the lights on. Simply because, we are all in this together, and there is only one human race and there’s no reason why a Dream of a peaceful life for all, complete with housing and a genuine pursuit of happiness… cannot be shared by all.

For screening information, please visit the Austin Film Festival’s website. To learn more about the project, please visit the ‘Home is a Hotel’ website. Also, here is an audio trailer of the film to help spread the word about this important documentary.

‘Home is a Hotel’ Audio Trailer

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