With affordable housing in short supply, young adults are increasingly struggling to find a place to call home. Halima Elkhatabi’s fly-on-the-wall documentary invites us to 15 apartments in Montreal, where a diverse assortment of potential roommates interview each other to determine their compatibility. The ensuing conversations are an intricate and at times humorous dance of self-disclosures and boundary-testing: would their potential new roomie mind their lengthy showers? How about table-saw noise? Or the need to store 100 unsorted Lego sets? Can they roll with the polycule’s visiting schedule?
Cinematographer Josué Bertolino’s candid interview footage is punctuated by shots of the bedrooms’ décor, showcasing their inhabitants’ delightfully distinct personalities. Authentic connections soon emerge as the film’s subjects gush about passions ranging from voguing to stand-up comedy to film, poetry, and Lebanese music, unveiling a rich tapestry of cultural interests. Heartfelt discussions soon unfold on the topics of white privilege, patriarchy, neurodiversity, sexuality, and mental health. Bursting with personality, Elkhatabi’s empathetic documentary presents an earnest snapshot of Montreal’s zeitgeist.
Presented by
Media Partner
Canada
2024
In French and English with English subtitles
At International Village
At Fifth Avenue
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Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Nathalie Cloutier
Producer
Nathalie Cloutier
Screenwriter
Halima Elkhatabi
Cinematography
Josué Bertolino
Editor
Yousra Benziane
Original Music
Timo Vossenkaul
Halima Elkhatabi
Montreal-based writer and director Halima Elkhatabi studied at the Institut national de l’image et du son and now works in documentary and fiction film, as well as in audio documentary production. She was a co-director of the collaborative doc St-Henri, the 26th of August (2011), directed the short fiction film Nina (Canada’s Top Ten at TIFF in 2015) and authored the podcasts La route du bled, Chloé et Abdi, Songe d’une nuit d’hiver and La route de l’Eldorado. Living Together is her debut feature-length documentary.
Photo by Maude Chauvin
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