ABSTRACT
The film begins with a stark shot of a figure slumped over on a public bench at night. Director Fielder Jewett, who edited the film himself with editorial advice from Katja Straub, builds the news of the prize into a huge reveal that changes our entire outlook on the main character, even though all of the footage was actually shot after he won. Skip becomes even more lovable because his essential outlook on life has not changed. Hotel 22 is an award-winning eight-minute documentary by filmmaker Elizabeth Lo, produced at the Stanford University Documentary Film and Video Program with support from the Sundance Institute, and featured on the New York Times Op-Docs website. The film has no narrative development to speak of, and no main characters, but makes excellent use of its observational footage and delivers an experience that has a definite arc.
