“We wouldn’t have heard about the bigger names if this diversity of social class, origin and gender was not present”: Amélie van Elmbt and Maya Duverdier on Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel

Belgian filmmakers Amélie van Elmbt and Maya Duverdier’s two-year journey to making the Martin Scorsese-produced Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel began by chance when they stumbled upon the building, working in New York down the street. The infamous hotel, which at various times has played host to Mark Twain, Janis Joplin and Patti Smith, is now in a state of limbo as a protracted period of development into luxury flats takes place, entrapping in a kind of purgatory the tenacious collection of bohemian characters who still reside there. But what’s most surprising about the film, is that, despite a sense of loss symptomatic of the process of gentrification seen in cities the world over, it’s brimming with a sense of unbridled creativity, the power of community and a look at how past and present coexist. Through a lyrical visual language that layers past archival footage over images of the current day shot on rich 16mm, it captures how the history of the building and the energy of its former residents persists in its very walls.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking with the filmmakers ahead of the release of the documentary. They explained their decision to capture the artistic spirit of the building through a loose patchwork of the voices and stories of its residents past and present through interview and archival footage, rather than voiceover, and how the extended renovation of the building into luxury flats is a metaphor for a bygone era of boundless freedom of expression being slowly lost. We also discussed the melancholic tone that is yet infused with an inspirational message about the power of creativity and living in the present.

Sarah Bradbury

Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel is released digitally on demand on 20^th January 2023.

Watch the trailer for Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel here: