A short film titled “Steel Homes,” which focuses on a world of hidden treasures and secrets inside a self-storage facility, will be screening this month as part of the Sundance Film Festival’s documentary spotlight. Produced by Odd Girl Out Productions and Quark Films, the movie takes viewers through stories of heartbreak, loneliness, despair, liberation and adventure represented in individual storage units.
“I can still remember the first time I visited a self storage warehouse,” said director Eva Weber. “I was there to help a friend move her belongings but became absolutely fascinated by the eerie atmosphere of the space itself. You can almost hear the echoes of other people’s lives reverberating down the long corridors.
“The objects we store can literally tell the story of our lives―each ornament, photo or old gramophone record takes us on a journey through our past, present and into our future,” Weber said.
Made for the Scottish Documentary Institute, “Steel Homes” received its premiere in November at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, one of the biggest documentary film festivals in the world. Weber is moving on to direct a longer film about self-storage auctions in Los Angeles, which she is intending to shoot this year.
To view a screening schedule, visit http://festival.sundance.org/2009/film_events/films/steel_homes.