The Florida Project Finds Magic in the Shadow of Disney World
Just outside the gates of Disney World, in the budget motels lining Highway 192, six-year-old Moonee is having the best summer of her life.
Sean Baker’s 2017 film The Florida Project captures a Florida most visitors never see. Moonee (Brooklynn Prince, in a performance that earned a Critics’ Choice Award) spends her days exploring with her ragtag group of friends, turning parking lots into playgrounds and abandoned condos into castles. Meanwhile, her mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) hustles to make rent at the Magic Castle motel, where the patient manager Bobby (Willem Dafoe, Oscar-nominated) does his best to keep order.
Shot on 35mm film in the actual motels along Kissimmee’s tourist corridor, Baker’s film finds joy and wonder in a place most people drive past on their way to the theme parks. It’s funny, heartbreaking, and one of the most authentic portraits of Florida ever put on screen.
