When I Came to Your Door

A woman searches for her partner among the ruins of a neighborhood in Addis Ababa, caught in the waves of forced evictions sweeping through the city’s informal settlements. “When I Came to Your Door” captures real images from one of the most recent demolitions that displaced low-income communities to make way for large scale urban projects in a rapidly expanding city. Through the woman’s love letter, the film lingers on what still stands after the demolition—abandoned objects, empty homes, and vividly colored doors—charging these ruins with emotion and new metaphoric meanings. Everyday objects are accompanied by domestic sounds recorded on-site to evoke the life that once thrived in these spaces. The film constructs a haunting portrait of a city where memories and social ties are erased by the relentless march of urban development, revealing its dehumanizing impact on the most vulnerable residents.