Home is a Hotel: A Documentary

Across America, cities are struggling with homelessness and housing affordability. How does one decades old solution – cramped Single Room Occupancy units – impact the lives of those who live in them? Home Is a Hotel takes you inside San Francisco’s SRO housing through intimate portraits of their residents filmed over six years. This character-driven, verité documentary immerses viewers in what it means to call a single room home in the heart of one of America’s richest cities. It’s the story of an immigrant single mom in Chinatown, a blind songwriter fighting harassment and eviction, an ex-couple in recovery co-parenting a six-year-old son, a graffiti artist who paints murals for the tech companies gentrifying his neighborhood, and a determined mother on a quest to find her runaway daughter all of them trying to better their lives within the four walls of rentals as tiny as 80 square feet.

Welcome to LAC Shorts, where we celebrate the creative talents of independent filmmakers. The Lawrenceville Arts Center is excited to showcase a diverse range of short films by local filmmakers, providing a platform for their voices and visions to reach audiences in Lawrenceville and the greater metro-Atlanta area. Each of our screenings will kick off with a selection of shorts, offering unique perspectives and stories, followed by a feature Southern Circuit film for the evening. This is more than just a screening; it’s an opportunity to connect, inspire, and engage. After the evening of films, we invite all selected filmmakers to join a talkback session with the audience, giving us a chance to dive deeper into the artistry and passion behind the projects. Together, let’s make Gwinnett County a hub for creativity, storytelling, and collaboration.

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers connects independent filmmakers with communities throughout the South for screenings and conversations around stories, important topics, and the art of filmmaking. Since Southern Circuit’s inception in 1975, hundreds of filmmakers from around the country have toured, sharing their work and perspectives with over one hundred Screening Partner communities across the South. 

Southern Circuit Screening Partner organizations host touring filmmakers and present screenings with Q&As and other engagements such as class visits, meet-and-greets, and workshops. Screening Partners include universities, community arts centers, municipalities, historic cinemas, places of worship, and more, serving diverse audiences of all ages.