ABOUT THE FILM
When housing on the lowest rung of the American Dream is being devoured by the wealthiest of the wealthy, whose dream are we serving?
A DECENT HOME is a feature length documentary film by Sara Terry that addresses urgent issues of class and economic inequity through the lives of mobile home park residents who can’t afford housing anywhere else. The film asks, Who are we becoming as Americans? — as private equity firms and wealthy investors buy up parks, making sky-high returns on their investments while squeezing every last penny out of the mobile home owners who lack rights and protections under local and state laws, and must pay rent for the land they live on.
As the pandemic exposes even greater social and economic inequities in the United States, A DECENT HOME is the first documentary to focus on mobile home parks and the injustices faced by park residents. Our engagement campaign uses the film as a tool to help drive awareness and action in support of manufactured housing owner rights. It centers affordable housing in a broad public forum for debate, discussion and advocacy.
WATCH THE TRAILER
SCREENINGS
October 2022
October 7th, 7pm, Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands
October 11th, 3:30pm — Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival , Arkansas
October 12th – Housing Colorado Annual Conference, Breckenridge
October 13th, 5pm & October 14th, 3pm, Heartland Film Festival , Indiana
October 19th – NH Community Loan Fund, Concord, NH
October 21st, 2:30pm, New Haven Film Festival , Bethel, CT
October 23rd, 1:30pm: United Nations Association Film Festival, Palo Alto, California
Iowa Community Screening Tour
August 20 @1pm: North Liberty Library, North Liberty
August 21 @2pm: United Automobile Workers Local 94, Dubuque
August 22 @7pm: Oaknoll Retirement Residence, Iowa City
August 23 @5:45pm: University of Iowa Boyd Law Building, Iowa City
August 24 @5:30pm: Prairie Meadows, Altoona
August 25 @7pm: Waukee Community Center, Waukee
August 26 @1pm, 6pm: Iowa State University Extension Building, Iowa City
Colorado Community Screening Tour
May 28 @ 4pm & 7pm: Aurora History Museum, Aurora
June 3 @ 5pm: Durango Public Library, Durango
July 16 @ 5:30pm: University of Colorado Eaton Building, Boulder
July 17: Longmont Mobile Home Community, Time TBD
July 18 @ 6pm: Freight Leadville, Leadville
July 19 @ 5:30pm: Jefferson Unitarian Church, Golden
July 20 @ 6pm: Colorado Mountain College Breckenridge - Auditorium, Breckenridge
July 21 @ 6pm: Edwards, Gypsum (Outdoor Screening)
July 22 @ 7pm: Third Street Center South Lawn (outdoor Screening), Carbondale
July 23 @ 6pm: Western University — UC Conference Room, Gunnison
April 2022
April 20—24: Julien Dubuque Film Festival
April 21—30: RiverRun International Film Festival
April 26 @ 7pm: Polk County Housing Trust Fund
Link to Online Registration HERE
April 27& 28: Film Scene, Iowa City
Link to Online Registration HERE
April 27—May 4: IFFBoston
March 18, 2022
Fargo Film Festival Official Selection
February 18, 2022
Big Sky Film Festival Opening Night Film
November 16, 2021
DOC NYC New York City Premiere
November 6, 2021
Denver Film Festival World Premiere
THE FILMMAKERS
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Gretchen Landau
Co-producer
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Victoria Chalk
Editor / Writer
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Sara Terry
Director / Cinematographer / Writer / Producer
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Sara Archambault
Producer
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Alysa Nahmias
Producer
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Tom Neff
Executive Producer
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Jonathan Logan
Executive Producer
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James Costa
Executive Producer
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Kirby Dick
Executive Producer
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Emily Deschanel
Executive Producer
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Kate Amend
Consulting Editor
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Doug Pray
Consulting Producer
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Abby Disney
Advisor
REVIEWS
“Similar to Michael Moore’s Roger and Me, Terry juxtaposes the faces of those left out with those forcing the leaving... One has no qualms with Terry’s camera, the other does. There is always a human at the center, whether they want to be there or not. ”
— Boulder Weekly
“It is excellent -- heartbreaking, infuriating, motivating...a very necessary film! ”
— Angel An, Roadside Attractions
“At the center of Terry’s film are themes of greed and power. But perhaps the most worrisome of all is that of indifference... By interviewing the residents and telling their stories, she puts a face on the issue. It’s a fascinating and shocking exposé, a cinematic indictment..”
— Hammer to Nail
“I cried through half of it and the other half I was white-hot angry.”
— Bree Davies, City Cast Denver
“An intimate and informative work on the wealth gap ... ”
— Aspen Times
“This is a really good film about a problem that none of us probably ever think about. ”
— Unseen Films
“Terry’s activist personality shines through... She’s a fighter and just what we need in this battle against greedy developers and politicians... ”
— Hammer to Nail
“The wealth gap is at the crux of this story. It’s people with immense wealth, or the potential for immense wealth, making it off the backs of people who are just trying to survive. ”
— Bree Davies, City Cast Denver
“Terry knows where to put the camera to make a home feel warm and an empty space cold...the story is a worthy one and Terry is plenty capable of telling it. ”
— The Denver Channel
“This is a really good film about a problem that none of us probably ever think about. ”
— Unseen Films
“In some moments, when you literally pursue landlords and investors, and they try to get rid of you and even threaten, all this is very reminiscent of the investigative style of Michael Moore. ”
— VOA/Russia Service
“The wealth gap is at the crux of this story. It’s people with immense wealth, or the potential for immense wealth, making it off the backs of people who are just trying to survive. ”
— Bree Davies, City Cast Denver
CONVERSATIONS
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NBC-affiliate KUSA interview
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20-minute Citycast Podcast episode
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Little Village Magazine Interview
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River to River Interview with Candi and Sara
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The Labor Exchange on KGNU News
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The Person of the Week on MVY Radio
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VII Insider Interview
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1A on WAMU
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MetroFocus Interview
IN THE NEWS
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John Oliver / Last Week Tonight
Features footage from Terry’s shoots for A DECENT HOME, then called That’s How We Roll. The piece has been seen by nearly nine million viewers since it aired in 2019.
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NPR / Morning Edition
The private equity firm featured in A DECENT HOME is highlighted in this story.
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New York Times
A story about the impact of development on a mobile home park and a city that failed to help, much like the City Council of Aurora failed to help Denver Meadows.
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The New Yorker
Some of the Iowa park residents in A Decent Home are featured in this story.
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NPR
A story about how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac help investors buy mobile home parks, raise rent and evict people, a piece which also includes the private equity firm featured in A Decent Home
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ProPublica
A piece about the impact of private equity in another sector of the housing marketplace – mullti-family apartment buildings.
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Boston Globe
A piece about the Independent Film Festival Boston, including a section summarizing A Decent Home and describing the issues surrounding it.
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The Guardian
Sara Terry is featured in this story about A Decent Home and the mobile home park housing crisis.
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KWWL News, Dubuqe
A news report with accompanying article discussing A Decent Home’s involvement in the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival.
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Telegraph Herald
A story highlighting the panel discussion at the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival and describing the impact goals of A Decent Home.
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Iowa City Press-Citizen
A piece featuring Sara Terry discussing the origins of A Decent Home, and Candi Evans detailing its effect on park residents and communities.
IOWA NICE
“It’s not a red or blue issue, it’s a people issue.”
“When I think of home, I think of Iowa.”
“Everything just boils down to kindness…. It’s pretty simple, but it’s not.”
The Carlyle Group vs.
The American Dream
The Carlyle Group vs The American Dream is the timely, untold story about one of the first mobile home parks bought by the giant private equity firm, The Carlyle Group. From the director of the award-winning feature documentary, A Decent Home, about mobile home parks and the wealth gap, this concise, devastating short shines a light on an issue growing in urgency every day – the havoc wreaked by private equity when it enters the housing market.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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RT @loftinmd: Not-so-fun fact: Institutional investors may control 40% of US single-family rental homes by 2030. Investor purchas… https://t.co/5B1HA6e0No
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RT @ChaseMit: This simply cannot continue. I know this is boring to people who don’t live in LA, but the weather is the whole rea… https://t.co/Vw6Mfb5cXW
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Check out this 6 minute excerpt of an interview with @saraterry13 for free on YouTube. https://t.co/9vqexMiOS6
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RT @worldchannel: #FilmmakerFriday: Why did filmmaker @saraterry13 make @adecenthomefilm – and what does it say about our decency as… https://t.co/qZb351H68x
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RT @americareframed: As even the most affordable housing options are endangered by re-development, mobile home park residents fight to p… https://t.co/FITNv7wDKj
Follow A DECENT HOME
THANK YOU
FUNDERS
Just Films/Ford Foundation
Jonathan Logan Family Foundation
Tom Neff
IDA/Pare Lorentz Grant
Rogovy Foundation
LEF Foundation
Cal Humanities
Economic Hardship Reporting Project
Mountainfilm
IMPACT CAMPAIGN PARTNERS
IMPACT FUNDERS
Colorado Health Foundation
Perspective Fund
Tom Neff
Jonathan Logan Family Foundation
Iowa Teamsters
Iowa AFL-CIO
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GET IN TOUCH
impact@adecenthomefilm.com
SUPPORT OUR IMPACT CAMPAIGN
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