Brian was down on his luck and sleeping rough in Liverpool. Lawrence was a successful hotelier and property developer. David was a self-proclaimed hippy in a dead-end job. Together they form an unlikely alliance and create a homeless shelter like no other. But can it last? The Guardian’s latest documentary, Our House, tells their story.
Our House was filmed and directed by John Domokos, a senior video producer and film-maker at the Guardian. He has reported from around the world and been shortlisted for several awards for his coverage of the refugee crisis in Europe. He created and directs Anywhere but Westminster and made a series of documentary films about Stoke-on-Trent in 2017.
Coming up: The Tower Next Door
Neighbours from the blocks surrounding Grenfell share their stories of media stereotyping and the dangers that predated the fire. The residents keep fighting for their community, despite institutional neglect.
Watch Guardian documentaries in cinemas
Four Guardian documentaries will be screened at Sheffield Doc/Fest in June: Little Pyongyang, The Tower Next Door and Black Sheep, which has been nominated for the best short award, will be screened on 9 June. Skip Day will be shown on 12 June.
On 14 June, the Guardian will host a special screening at the Rio cinema in Dalston, east London, of Black Sheep, The Tower Next Door and Little Pyongyang. The makers of the three films will discuss their work.
Documentary recommendations
At the cinema: The next big documentary release is McQueen, which charts the rise of the much-missed fashion designer and cultural icon, Alexander McQueen. It will be showing at cinemas across the UK from 8 June.
Bertha Dochouse in Bloomsbury, London, has a special screening of the brilliant A Cambodian Spring on 6 June. It’s an intimate portrait of three Cambodian citizens caught up in the chaotic and often violent politics and protests shaping modern-day Cambodia. Filmed over six years, it follows the growing wave of land-rights protests that led to the ‘Cambodian spring’ and the tragic events that followed.
I also highly recommend That Summer, about the artist Peter Beard and his documentation of the Beales of Grey Gardens, and the wider creative community in Montauk, Long Island.
Showing nationwide at various independent cinemas is The Rape of Recy Taylor, a powerful and important film about a young black woman who refused to be silenced by her white attackers in the 1940s.
Online: One of my favourite documentaries of 2017 is now available on BBC iPlayer. Dina is an unusual love story about two people with tough backgrounds seeking a new kind of independence later in life. Funny, sweet and occasionally upsetting, it’s a beautiful watch shot intimately by the directors Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles.
Finally, don’t miss my latest Observer column about the world of documentary film festivals, including next week’s Sheffield Doc/Fest.
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