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TIES ON A FENCE - Women in Downtown Los Angeles Speak Out
Film Documentary - © 2004
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Directed by Corina Gamma
Produced by Corina Gamma & Gizi Weibel

 

Over the course of a year, approximately 250 000 citizen are homeless in the Los Angeles County. An estimated 91 000 citizen in Los Angeles County are homeless at any given night, with only 4000 emergency beds available. An average of 35 % of homeless people are women.

Only six city blocks from the financial district of downtown Los Angeles is Skid Row, an area with a large concentration of missions and shelters, which makes it the largest emergency-service dependent community in the United States. These services keep the homeless in a very isolated area.
The documentary Ties on a Fence: Women in Downtown Los Angeles Speak Out is a compendium of conversations and interviews with women who are currently residing in the downtown Los Angeles Skid Row. The women who participated in this film are either homeless, at the periphery of it, or in a transitional situation. They tell their stories, struggle and their experiences of poverty as they are trying to navigate through the various bureaucracies of government programs. Many of them are trying to overcome personal dilemmas, either resolving past experiences or escaping them altogether. Some of the documented conversations reveal that "homelessness" is more than just a physical situation, but it is also a condition of poverty and becomes a state of mind.

Being homeless does not mean being without community. Along with successive institutionalization of homelessness grew a community with its own social permanence. This non-typical community provides a place of belonging for many women. They find acceptance and support while and sharing their experiences and resources. With the fast increase of women, children and families into a once male-only community, transitional states have become permanent situations. But the resources available to women are lagging behind, while redevelopment is trying to push them out of their community.

Skid Row area is often stigmatized by the "normal" society, who seldom interacts with the homeless population. This creates a vast gap between the two societies and also creates more difficulties for homeless people to get out of their situation. Many women become trapped in a vicious cycle in Skid Row.


 

Further information links about the subject of Homelessness

Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness
http://www.lacehh.or

Shelter Partnership
http://www.shelterpartnership.org

Weingart Institute
http://www.weingart.org

 

Film Duration: 53:00 Min.

- English
- English w/German Subtitles

 


Ties on a Fence was shown in 9 Film Festivals and won two awards for best documentary. The film was presented in Colleges and Universities nationally and internationally.

AWARDS
Best Documentary: Black Earth Film Festival, Galesburg, Illinois, 2004
Best Documentary: Santa Clarita Film Festival, Santa Clarita, California 2005

for information, or to obtain a copy, please e-mail me at:

"This is a documentary that cares about the subject manner. Homelessness in America is at epidemic proportions. This doc takes a look at one very specific area: How women deal with homelessness in Downtown Los Angeles. The insanities of Skid Row are examined from the participants who actually live and survive it everyday. The filmmakers do a great job of bringing these stories to life" - Juror, Dan Green. Black Earth Film Festival, Galesburg, Illinois. (Award for Best Documentary).

Comments after some of the screenings:

David Buss, seems quite young and healthy and wonderfully in charge of the world. David was homeless and on skid row for many years. He came to a screening with his charming wife - they have children. He commented, that we have lost our social conscience and we do not care for each other like we should. Another lady said she was the victim of abuse and claims 1 in 4 women are so. She attributes this to a hierarchical society. Another lady fled Germany as a child with her family. They were homeless and stayed in a refugee camp. They had a community kitchen, bathrooms, schools, and other things. She did not mention it, but they clearly had dignity. According to her, they were much better off than those people in the film about Los Angeles Skid Row. Some people were fairly shocked by the movie and said you never see anything like this in the mainstream media. Several people in the audience had been involved in Habitat projects. They were working on house projects, and spoke of a an other lady who was going to live in one of the houses. She had a child and this was the first home she ever lived in. They were going to give her training in how to live in a home and how to pay her bills.