Sunday, October 11, 2015

Watch: Elizabeth Lo's 'Hotel 22'

Elizabeth Lo's remarkable short film, Hotel 22 documents one night on the 24-hour bus in the California Bay Area which serves as a shelter to the area's homeless. Lo is a Stanford University MFA student who spent countless nights on the bus to get to know the environment and people. With 6 days of shooting and over 30 hours of footage, Lo condensed the film to make the story seamlessly feel like only one night. Enter into the unfiltered and raw lives of the many homeless and their safe haven that is Bus 22. 

The short film premiered at Sundance Film Festival which was met with praise, eventually leading Lo to be named one of the "25 New Faces of Film" in Filmmaker Magazine. It's the short's observational yet immersive filmmaking style that immediately makes Hotel 22 an engrossing watch. I was actually surprised when it ended because I wanted to know more about these unique characters who are ironically living in the booming money town of Silicon Valley. Lo is currently expanding Hotel 22 into a tonally different feature that will premiere next year that will focus on more of her interactions with her subjects. I definitely cannot wait Elizabeth, I cannot wait!

Follow Elizabeth Lo

Website // Facebook