Quiet and pensive, Room Without A View relies on still footage of Beirut and the many live-in maids who service the city’s affluent households to tell the story of the Kafala system of indentured servitude. There is no true narration to the film, though occasionally the documentary is interrupted by the filmmakers calling up various maid agencies and asking questions from "What are your maid’s salaries" to "What ethnicities of maids do you provide" in an attempt to educate the viewer on Lebanon’s widespread and damaging societal views of domestic workers and black and brown immigrants.
Bangladeshi, Ethiopian, Pilipino, and Kenyan domestic workers are the main subjects of the interviews and hold most of the film’s focus. The voices of immigrants, Lebanese experts and citizens, and French civil rights authorities are occasionally interspersed. Room Without A View asks a simple question; Why should domestic workers in Lebanon be exempt from labor law and worker’s rights?
While just over an hour in runtime, this documentary has astounding value and crams in a lot of valuable information. The pensive mood, thoughtful pacing, and outstanding footage of Beirut’s many towering apartment complexes make this film seem much longer than it is. The length alone makes this an excellent choice for college-level courses.
This investigation of Lebanese maid agencies and the modern-day slavery of domestic workers in Lebanon is an excellent resource for anyone studying labor rights, labor struggles, international labor, immigration, and women’s rights. Not only are these maids household servants, cooking and cleaning on command, but they are also more often than not substitute mothers for the children of affluent women who aren’t ready or are unwilling to be loving mothers.
We see these patterns repeated across the globe, though in Lebanon they are peculiar: These women are seen not as laborers or employees but as household property. Their abusers are protected by law, by the fact that these women are household property. There were some moments of genuine disgust for me as we were shown a group of rich women having a tea party as their maid served and the conversation turned to the rights of domestic workers.
These women spouted nearly word for word the arguments used by plantation owners to defend the extension and protection of chattel slavery in America to defend the dehumanization and legal ownership of foreign domestic workers in Lebanon (while in earshot of the maid). Room Without A View is a superior documentary and a must-see for any fans of documentary film, immigration issues, and labor issues. Highly Recommended. Editor’s Choice.
What type of college professors would find this title valuable?
Women’s and gender studies lecturers would find the most value in Room Without A View as it could be viewed in a typical class period and is quite poignant. Those studying the modern Middle East, immigration, and labor may also find value in viewing this documentary.
What public library shelves would this documentary be on?
Women’s issues, labor, immigration, law, and Middle Eastern documentary sections would all be excellent choices for Room Without A View.
What kind of film series would this documentary fit in?
Room Without A View would be an excellent addition to a women’s rights film series. It would also fit into immigration, labor, and documentary film series. Universities, women's centers, and Middle Eastern communities should consider hosting a screening of this film.
Room Without A View reveals the dire reality of foreign domestic workers in Middle Eastern countries such as Lebanon. The documentary offers an intimate insight into the private lives of employers, agents and maids. Laws create a legal structure of inequality and power imbalance that encourages corruption and abuse. Sexism and the patriarchal system discriminate against Lebanese women in turn perpetuates abuse against foreign domestic workers. Exposing a modern form of slavery, the film reflects on the role of women and domestic worker in capitalist societies.
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AWARDS & SPECIAL SCREENINGS
- World Premiere – CPH:DOX’s F:act Award Competition, Copenhagen Int’l Documentary Film Festival, Denmark
- North American Premiere – Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
- Best documentary Ex Aequo award – Laceno D'oro International Film Festival, Italy
- Best Documentary Feature – Brights Future Independent Film Festival Gothenburg, Sweden
- Amnesty International Catalunya Award – DocsBarcelona International Documentary Film Festival, Spain
- Award Human Rights Documentary – Festival del Cinema dei Diritti Umani di Napoli, Italy
- Honorable Mention – DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, Korea
FILM FESTIVALS
- The Film Festival, Poland
- DocsBarcelona International Documentary Film Festival 2021, Spain
- Biografilm Festival, International Celebration of Lives, Italy
- DOCUMED The Association of Documentary Cinema, Tunisia
- Shanghai International Film Festival, China
- Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Greece
- DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, Korea
- Black Star International Film Festival, Ghana
- Job Film Days International Film Festival, Italy
- The Zurich Film Festival, Switzerland
- DocsMX International Documentary Film Festival, Mexico
- One World – International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Check Republic
- Festivals des Libertés, Belgium
- Palestine Cinema Days
- The Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Germany
- Karama Human Rights Festival (HRFF), Jordan
THE FILMMAKER
Roser Corella (Barcelona, 1978) is an Independent Documentary Filmmaker currently based in Berlin. Roser began her career as video-journalist for the Catalan TV, but her interest in human stories behind global issues moved her to start self-producing and developing a personal vision within the documentary field. Her work - Machine Man (short, 2011), Prisoners of Kanun (short, 2014), Grab and Run (feature, 2017) – has been shown worldwide, winning numerous awards. Her fascination for the documentary genre has led her to travel the world in search of stories that deserve to be told. Not only to witness but to challenge and raise critical questions about contemporary societies.
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ROOM WITHOUT A VIEW
Catalog # EPF16040 ● ISBN: 978-1-933724-80-5 ● UPC: 6-82086-16040-5 ● Not Rated ● Color 73 Minutes ● 2020 ● NTSC ● Arabic, Amharic, Bengali, French, English, English Subtitles, Spanish Subtitles
Click here to buy DVD: $29.95
Click here to buy DVD With Public Performance Rights: $250
Click here to buy DSL and DVD w/ Public Performance Rights: $375
For purchase orders, to book screenings and for other inquiries, please contact:
Larry Rattner - larry@epfmedia.com