Flophouse America

Amid the U.S. housing crisis, twelve-year-old Mikal lives with his parents and their cat in a dilapidated flophouse room. Marked by precarity and alcohol abuse yet sustained by love, his coming of age unfolds over three years, revealing the wounds of childhood and the fragile hope of family life.

Monica Strømdahl: ‘In 2005, as a photography student in need of cheap accommodation, I checked into a run-down hotel in New York. There, I met a community of people who relied on affordable housing but were shut out of the traditional housing market.

In 2017, in a hotel lobby, I met Mikal, an 11-year-old boy raised in the hotel in the crossfire between poverty and addiction. Meeting Mikal and his family made me realise photography wasn’t enough to capture their story. I wanted to give them space to speak, to move, to show the complexities of their lives beyond still images. And so the 15-year photography project transitioned into film.

Through making this film, my relationship with Mikal and his family evolved into something personal and meaningful. The trust between us allowed Mikal to set clear boundaries in the shoots. Some days, he was eager to be filmed and wear a mic; on others, he made it clear he wanted space. Between shoots, when I was in Norway, we would keep each other updated on everyday life.

Flophouse America might be triggering to watch. At its core, [... it] is a film about fractured childhoods, inequality and social inheritance, but also hope and the dream of a better future.’