There are 20 motels on S.W. 8th Street in Miami, the old main east-west artery through the city, and 19 of them rent rooms by the hour. Here secrets are safe, and as long as guests respect the rules of the establishment, a room is a temporary home. Past the motel entrance sign, they are hidden from the city behind high walls and lush hedges. For added privacy, some rooms have their own parking and private walk-up.
Love at the Twilight Motel premiered at Hot Docs 2009, and screened recently theatrically in Toronto at The Royal and Revue Cinema to further acclaim. This television date will mark the film’s world broadcast premiere, on CBC TV’s documentary.
Part confessional, part broken love story, Love at the Twilight Motel weaves together seven remarkably intimate interviews to penetrate the darker side of desire. Sex, infidelity and the allure of the fast lane propel these stories. All are seeking some kind of justification for their actions. Mr. R, an affluent businessman recounts a lifetime of lunchtime sexual encounters with secretaries. Mr. B loves his wife “more than life,” but has a plethora of excuses for his prostitutes and drug habit. Beautiful, soft-spoken Rose was a straight “A” student until she fell in with the wrong crowd. Richard feels his destiny in life is to seduce married women. And Sara, the Bible Belt Christian wife describes her road to swinging. In the privacy of the motel bedrooms, men and women become candidly revealing, dark and funny, transcending the limits of their circumstances, and redeeming themselves with their stories.
The filmmaker, Alison Rose, stayed in a number of motels on and off over the course of three years and obtained permission to interview and film. The condition: No one is identified unless they give prior consent.
Winner of The NFB / Documentary Channel Feature Film Fund, Love at the Twilight Motel is a production of Inigo Films in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada in association with documentary, the Canadian Television Fund, the Rogers Documentary Fund, the OMDC Film Fund, and the Canwest Hot Docs Completion Fund.
