IDFA - La Mami

As long as Mami gets her tip, she looks after the bags, makes sure there”s enough toilet paper, and is always ready for a comforting or supportive heart-to-heart. She”s quick to deliver one of her idiosyncratic maxims, such as, “Men are only good for two things: for nothing, and for money.”

This intimate documentary is largely set within the four walls of Mami”s domain. Among the girls and women putting on their makeup in front of the mirrors, we principally follow the newest dancer, Priscilla. She started dancing at the cabaret so she can afford to pay the hospital bills for her 22-year-old son, who has cancer.

For her, and many of the other women, Mami”s room is a safe, almost motherly shelter and a trusting bubble remaining in a night world that is being transformed.