Helene Klodawsky, 2007, 87 min 49 s This feature film tells the story of a Somali refugee who confronts the unexpected when she and her teenage daughters are evicted from their apartment for arrears in rent. Even working two jobs as a cleaner, headstrong and determined Ayan finds it tough to scrape by in Canada, let alone send money to her anxious husband and two sons in East Africa. In the midst of a severe housing shortage. Ayan and her daughters are exiled to the city's tattered hinterland among other homeless families and unsettled souls. Through community-based storytelling and a trio of remarkable performances, Family Motel charts one family's confrontation with life on the edge as they fall through the cracks in a land of plenty.
—Coleman Mannheim