Shelter Stories

Produced by: 
Meryl Perlson
Year: 
1990
Duration: 
14 min 30 sec

Told from the perspective of five homeless teenagers living with their families in shelters, the video examines some of the causes of homelessness and debunks many of the common myths about who is homeless and why. The quintet is eager to demystify shelter conditions, the effects of homelessness on family and academic life, and their growing awareness of how media and society deal -- or don't deal -- with their homelessness.

Conceptualized by the young people themselves and using rap music to underscore its message, Shelter Stories explores the pain and humiliation of losing control over one's life, the intolerable living conditions in the shelters and the struggle required simply to survive. The teens helped producer Meryl Perlson pick the interview questions, videotaped their own dramatic parts, and recorded and original rap song for the soundtrack.

Perlson began making documentary and experimental video in Philadelphia in the late 1980's. She is a founding member of the Termite TV Collective, an ongoing swarm devoted to the creation of alternative media. Her award-winning collective and individual work has been broadcast on PBS and cable, exhibited nationally in museums including MOMA (NYC) and the New Museum, and shown at a wide range of festivals. She has an MFA in Film/Media Arts from Temple University, and has taught at the university level for the past decade. She is currently a mother/artist in Medford, MA, where her life sequences between family, community, art and teaching is always subject to interruption.

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

March 10, 1991 - "Panel: The Aesthetics of Community-Based Video," Women in the Directors Chair Film & Video Festival (Chicago, IL)