Film Description:
"In a series of inquisitive encounters and captivating conversations, young people looking for a roommate explore the prospect of forging genuine connections. Placing her camera in 15 Montreal apartments advertising a 'room for rent,' director Halima Elkhatabi paints a complex and engaging picture of a generation accustomed to playing all their identity cards to find their place in the world. From the start, the questions and the answers run the gamut, each person seeking to define their individuality while probing that of the other. Everyone reveals themselves with candour and vulnerability, hoping for that rare discovery: someone to share their space with who also shares their values. The debut feature-length documentary by a filmmaker with a compassionate and generous eye, Living Together maps a mosaic of cultures and ideas, with explorations of community, individualism and the right to housing in constant interplay."
-- National Film Board of Canada
(source)
Film Description:
"Looking for the ideal roommate can feel like an epic quest. You have to sit down with one stranger after another trying to convince them it'd be fun to have you around for an unknown amount of time. Halima Elkhatabi's documentary Living Together is all about the negotiation. Simple in form but full of life, the film sets us down in various Montreal kitchens, living rooms, and dens to watch a wide range of people test the waters of compatibility, divulging things about themselves and their lives they might hesitate to share with friends or even lovers. Eccentricities are pre-emptively shared ('I look like a raccoon in the morning, and you can't talk to me'), house rules are laid down ('We have lots of debates about the patriarchy'), and, in a few lucky cases, friendships begin to form. Elkhatabi—who also has a short film, Fantas, in this year's Festival—captures it all with an uncomplicated visual approach, some very clever editing rhythms, and a subtle sense of humour. (In a moment that really shows the kids being alright, the younger subjects are refreshingly frank about questions of sexuality and mental health, reframing potential vulnerabilities as statements of strength.) Living Together is about the risks inherent in putting your security (and possibly your sanity) in the hands of a stranger, and the glee that comes with making an immediate connection. In other words, it's about how to be human. Take notes."
-- Norm Wilner
(source)
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