DOROTHY DAY HOUSE has been providing shelter, meals, and social services to the Berkeley homeless community for over 30 years. They run multiple shelters and services throughout the city, including the Berkeley Emergency Storm Shelter which is open for 5 months and operates out of the old Berkeley city hall building in the heart of downtown. Our film will be focusing primarily on this seasonal shelter where residents are housed during the coldest and wettest months of the year.

While staying in the shelter, residents are guided by Dorothy Day’s staff in order to make progress towards reintegrating into society and potentially gaining permanent housing. The film will follow the compassionate support of the Dorothy Day staff and the struggles houseless individuals face everyday. In addition to focusing on the shelter, unhoused musicians from the Berkeley community will be heavily featured and recordings of their music will be used to help score the film. Currently this project has budgeted $7,500 (equal to 30% of total funds raised to date) to pay directly to unhoused musicians, poets, and visual artists who will contribute to the film through their art.

We will partner with the leadership and residents of Dorothy Day House throughout this project and create art that helps raise funds, physical donations, and awareness for volunteer opportunities to assist with their daily operations. The leadership team of Dorothy Day has already been very impactful in helping us form the lens of this project. We are grateful to have their full buy in and participation.