Love Me Tenderloin

The DVD of 'Love Me Tenderloin' is available for purchase on the website of the distributor Zaradoc.

Technical file

Release date	April 2014
Running time	71 minutes
Director	Henri Quenette
Editing	Léna Aïache Risterucci
Audio mix	Damien Sinet
Calibration	Franck Le Coroller
Music	Marc Héron
Genre	Documentary film
Distributor	Zaradoc
Country	USA - France

Synopsis

The Tenderloin has long been known as the "heart" of San Francisco. It is the last refuge for elderly, disabled and low-income working people striving to stay in the city. This area is perhaps the last frontier in SF's ever-expanding gentrification trend. It has a high-density population and has prominent issues with drugs. San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood can be a difficult place in which to live. Almost a quarter of the neighborhood’s residents live below the poverty level. It can be painful to look at how hard life is for some people. We think of that existing in some far-off country or continent, but it is in our own backyard, right in downtown San Francisco.

Love Me Tenderloin shows the everyday life of four inhabitants living in the Tenderloin: Bridchette, Arnold, Woody and Indian Joe.

Awards

Wins

Festival	Award	Year	Country
San Francisco Film Awards	'Award of Merit'	2015	USA
Festival International du Documentaire en Cévennes	Nominated	2015	France
Cinema at the Edge Film Festival	Nominated	2015	USA
One Country One Film	Nominated	2015	France
Voiceless Film Festival	Nominated	2015	USA

The characters

Arnold

Born and raised in North Carolina, Arnold Reid ended up coming to San Francisco after an experience in Texas. A few years ago, Arnold was the victim of a judicial error. He spent six months in jail and as a result, lost his wife, his house and his job. He now studies law at Heald College and is willing to defend the most disadvantaged.

Bridchette

Bridchette Johnsson is a hairdresser who spent twenty years of her life in the Tenderloin. She spends most of her time doing volunteering for various organizations and is actually living in a Single Room Occupancy Hotel. She spent time in jail because of her crack addiction. She is now on probation and is on her way to recovery.

Joe

Joe Plamondon was born in the Shuswap Indian Reserve in the Columbia Valley region of British Columbia, Canada. After riding the freight trains for five years, he ended up in San Francisco where he lived as a homeless for thirty years. Big fan of Alice Cooper, he now lives in a Single Room Occupancy hotel in the Tenderloin.

Woody

Deforest Woods grew up in Alabama and moved to San Francisco in his 20's. He spent more than thirty years in the Tenderloin. He does some volunteering in the Tenderloin, giving out clean needles in order to protect drug addicts from diseases.

Around the film

Love Me Tenderloin's first public screening took place at the San Francisco Public Library, on March 25, 2014. Most of the film crew attended the screening, including the four main characters and inhabitants of the Tenderloin, the San Francisco Public Library is located in the neighborhood.

Love Me Tenderloin has been supported both by the French Consulate in San Francisco and the French-American Cultural Society.

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