Screening: Friday, Sep 12, 4:30pm at Soo Theatre (Block 4) |
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Directors: Brett M. Butler, Jason G. Butler
Narrative Feature, Canada, 2024, 89 min, Color
Laid off due to a global illness, Byron is barely holding his life together. With eviction looming and his marriage crumbling, he takes a job as a midnight courier at a pandemic hotel for the unhoused, hoping to scrape by. But the gig drags him into the underbelly of a broken system where addiction, desperation, and survival blur.
Running odd and often illicit errands for guests, he soon realizes how thin the line is between stability and the streets. When a deaf woman vanishes and bodies begin disappearing, his suspicions spiral into obsession. Asking the wrong questions has consequences, and after losing everything, Byron finds himself on the other side—beaten down by the same system he thought he was above.
Thanks For The Room is a raw, street-level descent into survival and paranoia, reminiscent of the anxiety-fueled storytelling of the Safdie Brothers.
The filmmakers are based in Toronto.
Directors/Writers/Producers: Brett M. Butler, Jason G. Butler
Key Cast: Kosa Akaraiwe, Nick Biskupek, Jesse McQueen
Brett and Jason Butler, the Butler Brothers, are Writer/Director/Producers based out of Toronto, creating original content under their boutique studio banner, Substance Production.
The Butler Brothers’ most recent theatrical release, Purgatory Jack, arrived in the fall of 2024 after winning multiple awards on the festival circuit. Their previous feature, Unfriending, had a limited theatrical run in the US after also garnering critical acclaim during its festival run.
The Butler Brothers recently wrapped principal photography on another feature, The Last Anniversary.
Thanks for the Room is a neo-realist feature inspired by true events, delving into the fragile line between stability and destitution. Like many people during the pandemic, we felt the harsh reality of just how precipitously close many of us are to poverty.
This film seeks to challenge the preconceived notions of homelessness, portraying characters who defy the stereotypes often associated with being unhoused. By weaving these portrayals into the storyline, we aspire to humanize genuine situations while emphasizing the truth that anyone can find themselves on the brink of poverty with just a stroke of bad luck.
The pandemic exacerbated societal divides and heightened paranoia, making these themes more relevant than ever, and we really wanted to highlight how strange and disconnecting that time and space felt. Interactions could escalate without warning or, conversely, become downright funny because of how unusual they were. We feel the film captures the raw, unfiltered experiences of those who navigated these turbulent times, shedding light on the overlooked struggles we all waged during a particular moment in time.
People’s strong and often single-minded opinions were, and still are, a major reason for the divisive times we currently find ourselves in. We wanted this story to not take sides or offer answers, but really live in the uncertainty that we all truly felt.
We took our cameras to some of the most marginalized areas of Toronto for authenticity and hope that comes across on screen, no permits, no tripods, just run and gun. By blending stark realism with deeply personal narratives, we feel Thanks for the Room invites viewers to question their assumptions and foster a deeper empathy for those living on the margins, and those with different viewpoints.
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