Flophouse America

Jun 19, 2025

1h 18m

★ 8.0

What does it truly take for someone to change?

Overview

Because of the big housing problem in the US many people move into cheap, run down hotels, the so-called Flophouse hotels. Twelve-year-old Mikal was born and raised in a hotel room he shares with his parents, who struggle with substance abuse. Driven by love and a desire for a better life, his greatest wish is for his mother to stop drinking. Mikal is bright and articulate, but his parents’ struggles prevent them from giving him the stability he needs. Through Mikal’s perspective, the film paints an intimate portrait of resilience, hope, and the harsh realities of life on society’s margins.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Fri Film

Flophouse America Trailers

Cast

No Cast found.

Homelessness in the United States takes many forms. For Elizabeth Herrera, David Lima and their four children, housing instability has meant moving between unsafe apartments, motels, relatives’ couches, shelters, the streets and their car. After 15 years of this uncertainty, the family moved into their first stable housing — an apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area — in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

5.3

TMZ Presents: The Downfall of Diddy

Apr 28, 2024

A series of lawsuits and allegations have legendary rap mogul P. Diddy on the ropes. TMZ has the troubling inside story from people who were there.

6.0

The Salt Mines

Oct 1, 1990

Explores the lives of Sara, Gigi and Giovanna, three Latino transvestites who for years have lived on the streets of Manhattan supporting their drug addictions through prostitution. They made their temporary home inside broken garbage trucks that the Sanitation Department keeps next to the salt deposits used in the winter to melt the snow. The three friends share the place known as "The Salt Mines".

0.0

Exergo

May 4, 2024

Departing from peripheral details of some paintings of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, a female narrator unravels several stories related to the economic, social and psychological conditions of past and current artists.

0.0

La dent creuse

Jan 1, 2025

"On that day, a building for the poor fell on top of the poor," is how Hazem El Moukaddem sums up the collapse of two buildings on rue d'Aubagne, in Marseille, on november 5th, 2018. This documentary gives voice to those who, on that morning, lost a friend or a neighbor under the rubble, falling victims to poor housing and property speculation. It is intended as an homage to the 8 victims of this tragedy, as well as to the inhabitants of this working-class neighborhood, who came together in solidarity to demand justice.

0.0

Dreams

Nov 6, 2021

These are the future leaders of their communities. Ever wonder what it’s like to walk a day in their shoes? How the world looks through their eyes? We were curious. So, we asked them.

7.7

Paper Tigers

May 28, 2015

Follows a year in the life of an alternative high school that has radically changed its approach to disciplining its students, becoming a promising model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence and disease that affect families.

6.9

Bobby Fischer Against the World

Jun 6, 2011

The first documentary feature to explore the tragic and bizarre life of the late chess master Bobby Fischer.

7.0

Track Two

Feb 2, 2023

A newspaper clip of a 30-year-old movie makes our middle-aged protagonist in the middle of his peak years to look for his best childhood friend. The journey leads him back to his teenage years in the 1990s depression, over-generational substance abuse and past encounters. This partly essayistic, autobiographical documentary tells the story of friendship and generational experiences while also pondering on the causes and effects of destinies in the judgmental atmosphere of our society.

0.0

The Mobilized Generation

Nov 24, 2021

A short documentary chronicling the coming-of-age story of generation z punctuated by numerous culturally significant moments, known as period effects, that have bred a generation of young activists.

10.0

Dear Little Haiti

May 15, 2024

A love letter to a place that will forever be home, a visual ode, and a farewell to a neighborhood that is rapidly changing due to the forces of gentrification and Miami’s housing crisis.

9.0

Bowery

Jun 8, 2022

A compelling portrait of New Yorkers living on the streets as they struggle with mental health, addiction, and the onset of a global pandemic. This powerful documentary offers an unfiltered, at times mesmerizing glimpse into life on the margins, drawing viewers into the raw, human stories behind a deepening crisis.

0.0

Slumlord Millionaire

Jun 6, 2025

This documentary exposes housing injustice in New York City, following the David-and-Goliath battles between ordinary renters and powerful developers. Through stories from neighborhoods across the boroughs, the film reveals the harsh realities of unsafe housing, unethical landlords, and an overwhelmed housing court system.

0.0

The Circle

Aug 15, 1967

Produced in 1967, this black and white film is an inmate's view of Daytop, a drug treatment centre on Staten Island, New York, where addicts learn to get along without drugs. Uncompromising, often brutal group therapy sessions are designed to shake loose the excuses a victim makes for himself. The people and situations shown are authentic; only one actor was employed. The results obtained at Daytop are regarded by some psychiatrists as a breakthrough.

9.0

Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy

Apr 29, 2021

Follow filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers as she creates an intimate portrait of her community and the impacts of the substance use and overdose epidemic. Witness the change brought by community members with substance-use disorder, first responders and medical professionals as they strive for harm reduction in the Kainai First Nation.

5.5

Amour de vivre

May 1, 2010

An account of the brief life of the writer Albert Camus (1913-1960), a Frenchman born in Algeria: his Spanish origin on the isle of Menorca, his childhood in Algiers, his literary career and his constant struggle against the pomposity of French bourgeois intellectuals, his communist commitment, his love for Spain and his opposition to the independence of Algeria, since it would cause the loss of his true home, his definitive estrangement.

0.0

Housing against Everyone

May 1, 2025

The availability of housing is a big topic today. It has the strongest impact on those who participate least in the public debate – low-income households, minorities or single women. The film follows a group of activists around Martin Freund, a representative and member of the Live Brno movement, as they try to persuade politicians in the second largest Czech city about their vision of affordable housing.

7.6

Someone Lives Here

Apr 29, 2023

Chronicles the modern-day David and Goliath tale amidst North America's housing crisis. During the pandemic, Khaleel Seivwright, a young Toronto carpenter, builds life-saving shelters for unhoused people facing the winter outside. His actions attracted international acclaim but also staunch opposition from the city government, portraying a compelling narrative set against the backdrop of societal challenges and governmental resistance.

No Image Available

10.0

El Soldador