DocFest: Motel Drive & As American As It Gets

Within a community of motels infamous for illicit activity, the Shaw Family grapples with housing insecurity and addiction while trying to raise their young son. When California’s High-Speed Rail Project displaces them, a glimpse of stability appears within reach. Motel Drive* is a vérité, street level vantage of post-industrial America, documented over eight years, on one city block.

*Followed by “As American As It Gets”, a short with Filipino American filmmaker and her family reflecting on the American Dream as they prepare for her mother’s immigration trial amidst a global pandemic (dir. by Marnie Salvani).

Presented as part of San Francisco Documentary Festival 2023.