Academy Award-winning local filmmakers Irving Saraf and Irving Saraf train their lens on a small speck of San Francisco’s homeless and substance abuse problems: the residents and workers of the Empress Hotel, established in the Tenderloin by the city’s Department of Public Health to house the recently homeless. Saraf and Light are nonjudgmental, allowing their subjects to tell their stories honestly, and we also come to admire the tireless work of the staff, led by Roberta Goodman. Chilling line, though, by one of the residents: “San Francisco is the place to be if you’re homeless and have a drug habit.” Bet that’s not a quote you’d find in the tourist brochures. SFGate
3:15 p.m. Sat., April 25
6 p.m. April 27 and 6:15 p.m. April 29 at the Kabuki.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Department of Public Health, District 6, Empress Hotel, homeless, Irving Saraf, Kabuki Theater, San Francisco International Film Festival, SF Tenderloin, SRO, Tenderloin, Tenderloin San Francisco
This documentary was difficult to watch but allowed me to really put things into perspective. I manage a homeless shelter in Cloverdale, California. I cannot imagine what it must be like to run the Empress Hotel. Managing Wallace House seems so easy in comparison, even though our clients experience the same difficulties with substance abuse and mental health issues.
God bless all of these wonderful people, staff and clients.
Amazing!