The legendary Chelsea Hotel, an icon of 1960s counterculture - former residents and regulars have included Patti Smith, Jim Morrison, Robert Mapplethorpe and the superstars of Warhol's factory - an artists’ refuge for over a century, will soon reopen as a luxury hotel.
Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel
A film by Maya Duverdier and Amelie van Elmbt
IN CINEMAS AND ON DEMAND NOW
ABOUT
Synopsis
Caught between fear and frenzy, after eight years of construction and living with scaffolding and constant building, some 51 residents prepare for imminent upheaval as others protest or hole up in their rooms. Against this chaotic backdrop, the film explores the utopian origins that contributed to the Chelsea’s mythical stature and questions the challenges it confronts in the future, as its residents, sold to capitalism, and walls themselves face a turning point in their common history.
FILMMAKER
Amelie van Elmbt
After studying film at the Belgian Film School IAD , Amélie worked as a casting director and assistant director with French director Jacques Doillon. In 2011 she directed and self-produced her first feature, HEADFIRST, which screened in Cannes’ ACID section and won the main award in New York First Time Festival. There she met Martin Scorsese, who executive produced her second feature, THE ELEPHANT & THE BUTTERFLY (2017) which premiered at Tribeca and won the Grand Prize at Heartland International Film Festival. Amélie codirected DREAMING WALLS with Maya Duverdier and is currently working on a new fiction feature, to be produced by Les films du Fleuve.
Maya Duverdier
After a bachelor in arts in France, Maya Duverdier obtained her Master's degree in cinema at the Ecole Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne with her documentary JEANNE SANS ARC (2014). Next to her work as a director and writer for Cinema and Documentary, she’s also active within various positions of film, television and advertising production. DREAMING WALLS is Maya’s first feature documentary, which she codirected with Amélie van Elmbt.
“Dreaming Walls opts for and achieves a quiet power.” - The Hollywood Reporter
REVIEWS
“Engaging… an arty crowd-pleaser” - Screen Daily