film

Vibrant and heartbreaking, Sean Baker's The Florida Project has stuck firmly in the minds of many indie film fans in the nine years since it came out. A portrait of childhood lived on the margins of the American Dream, it follows six-year-old Moonee, played by Brooklynn Prince, who spends a carefree summer causing mischief with friends around the budget motels that line the highways leading to Disney World.

The kids treat the garish strip as a playground, and the film subtly reveals the precarity that underpins their adventures. Bria Vinaite plays Moonee’s young mother, who struggles to survive through hustling and sex work, constantly on the brink of eviction from the Magic Castle Motel. Willem Dafoe, meanwhile, was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Bobby, the motel’s weary but compassionate manager, whose role makes him a reluctant but caring guardian to the area’s neglected kids.