Directed by Carmen Trocker • Documentary • 2024 • 93 minutes
PERSONALE is set at a four-star hotel in northeastern Italy — a luxurious spot in the Dolomite Mountains, where guests come to ski, swim, and relax. But instead of the scenery, the film focuses on the unseen: the housekeeping staff who are at the bottom of the hotel hierarchy, and whose work is absolutely essential.
Filmed over six weeks, PERSONALE is a snapshot of behind-the-scenes intensity, punctuated by the repetitive rhythms and hard physical labor of washing, folding, scrubbing, and changing bedding. Glimpses of the workers’ personal lives and challenges emerge too: a Ukrainian refugee from the war, who often seems on the verge of tears. Two Russian-speaking women comparing notes on how to maintain their manicures. Muslims discussing the challenges of Ramadan.
Housekeeping is understaffed, and the workers commiserate over workload and time off. But they also bicker, argue over who cleans the toilets, and break off into their own language groups. A well-run hotel is an immaculate world of its own. PERSONALE immerses us in the view few guests ever see.
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Land of Opportunity
Directed by Luisa Dantas • Documentary • 2011 • 97 minutes
Through the eyes of urban planners, community organizers, displaced youth, immigrant workers, and public housing residents, this verité-style documentary reveals how the story of New Orleans is the story of urban America: how democratic ...
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The Forgotten Occupation: Jim Crow Go...
Directed by Alain Martin • Documentary • With Alain Martin • 2025 • 90 minutes
What happens when the oppressor becomes your salvation? Through a letter to his grandfather, a Haitian filmmaker revisits the U.S. occupation of Haiti, unraveling the paradox of a man who longed for American rule and ...
