Places to Stay

“Places to Stay” deals with the filmmaker’s impressions as a child immigrant in the 1950s and 1960s; of being relocated from Germany to northern Quebec and northern Ontario, and the subsequent displacement she felt in her new country and culture. Her German heritage caused her to experience a great deal of guilt, confusion and alienation – feelings which pervaded her entire public and high school education. It was not until 1989, a few months before the Berlin Wall came down, that she was able to return to Germany for the first time since leaving there as a small child. Another aspect to this story is the move her family made from a small city in Germany to the remote bush towns in the mining districts of Canada’s northern regions. The isolations of these landscapes provides a compelling contrast to the personal isolation described in the narration. Edie Steiner is also a composer and musician, and “Places to Stay” features a number of original songs written specifically for the film.