The Hotel of Waifs
★ 7.5 · 2019 · 71m · Documentary
Waifs, homeless, derelicts, almsmen, others, forgettens, outcasts, unwanteds. The Hotel of Waifs; a temporary resting place far from home, an amusement in a pale fun fair, an enthusiastic trip on roundabout ways of soul.
More Like This
Finding Hope Home
★ 5.3
The story of Pastor Lucy and her husband Duncan Ndegwa, who began feeding and sheltering children from the streets of Nairobi, Kenya in 1996.
More info →
Cows Knocked Up by Fog
2002 · ★ 8
Catchy mix of farce and documentary. Portrait of a Berlin theatre company made up entirely of the homeless, alcoholics and junks. They call themselves ‘rats’ and take the film over to have a party.
More info →
Det svåra livet
2001 · ★ 9.4
This documentary follows Pia, who is homeless. She is struggling with her drug addiction. During the day she (and many other homeless people) sells the newspaper Situation Sthlm.
More info →
Det nya livet
2004 · ★ 9.2
It has been three years since Tom Alandh made the film "Det svåra livet" about homeless drug addict Pia. This film shows what has happened to her since.
More info →
Leva Livet
2011 · ★ 10
Ten years after documentary filmmaker Tom Alandh started filming homeless drug addict Pia Sjögren, he makes his third and final film about her. Pia was 14 years old when she started smoking cannabis and using drugs. Then it all happened really fast. The heavier drugs, the men who beat, and years of cold nights in basements and attics. Treatment and punishment. Rehabs and prisons. Relapse. Constantly back, at the complete bottom, among shame and guilt. For ten years, Tom Alandh and photographer Björn Henriksson documented Pia's life. Two films were made, this is the third and last film, which shows how she managed to get clean against all odds.
More info →
Down in Dallas Town
2023
Through interviews with people on the street and songs recorded to memorialize JFK in the mid-1960s, the film explores the impact of the November 22, 1963 assassination on issues in today’s world, from lingering conspiracy theories to the proliferation of gun violence, homelessness, and the scourge of K-2.
More info →
20 Cans of Chunky Beef Soup
2003
Documentary tells the story of Maxim Vakhmin, a veritable alleycat of a man. Revered as both an angel and a devil, Maxim (once known as a successful artist in his native Russia) is losing friends and finding new ones as a homeless person in the USA.
More info →
The Street
1996 · ★ 9
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.
More info →
Wood Street
2026
Two unhoused men turned community leaders— John and LaMonté —organize their neighbors in the face of displacement, addiction, and a failing social system.
More info →
Freeload
2014 · ★ 7
Just as the original hobos of the early 20th century were scorned the mainstream of society, so too are today's train riders. FREELOAD is a dive into a beggar's existence. It is a ride through America's backyard. It is a musical endeavor that feels like a drama. It is a sociological examination of the ignored.
More info →J Is for Junkie
2011 · ★ 7
In the 1980s and 1990s, an epidemic of crack cocaine addiction ravaged African American communities across the United States. Crack is extremely addictive, a trap that can lead to homelessness and an early death. Black addicts in Atlanta, Georgia tell us about their addiction, their past, and their struggles with police.
More info →
Our Journey Home
2015
Where we come from shapes who we are, and how others see us. Home gives us a sense of belonging and stability. It’s so much more than just a physical structure. It’s our safety, our refuge, our launch pad. Yet, so many people in the U.S. face housing instability and homelessness. A shocking 76% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck. They are just one accident or injury away from losing everything. Losing a place to call their own. Our Journey Home explores how home shapes us and challenges our perceptions about people in need of public housing. The film examines the role we all play in supporting those who struggle in having a stable place from where they can grow and dream.
More info →