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FLOPHOUSE AMERICA

By Monica STRØMDAHL

LIGHTDOX - as SALES All rights, World

Documentary - Completed 2025

Mikal (12) is born and raised in the rundown hotel room he shares with his parents, both struggling with alcohol addiction. Mikal’s biggest wish is for his mum and dad to stop drinking. But what does it take for someone to truly change their ways?

Festivals
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Visions du Réel 2025

- Year of production
- 2025
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- NORWAY, NETHERLANDS
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Duration
- 79 mn
- Director(s)
- Monica STRØMDAHL
- Producer(s)
- Beathe HOFSETH, Siri NATVIK
- Synopsis
- Due to the ongoing housing crisis in the U.S., many people are forced to live in run-down hotels, known as flophouses. Twelve-year-old Mikal shares a small, inexpensive room in one of these hotels with his parents and their cat, Smokey. Their home is marked by chaos and alcohol abuse, but also by love and the hope for a better future.
  
  Director Monica Strømdahl has spent years traveling across the U.S., documenting life in these hotels. Eight years ago, she met Mikal, one of many children growing up in this environment. This coming-of-age documentary follows him over three years, capturing the pain of a fractured childhood alongside the warmth and complexity of family.

FLOPHOUSE AMERICA

Festivals& Awards

Festivals
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