"The Brothel" is a ghost story about a woman who becomes the mistress of death in an attempt to stay close to one she has lost to death. When she realizes she is losing this game, she runs away from her life in the city.

In a small ghost town, Jerome, Arizona, Julianne purchases an abandoned brothel from the turn of the century, and sets to work turning it into a hotel.

In the process of restoring the past, she comes to know the ghosts of the brothel. Each woman represents a part of Julianne's now fragmented life.

Avery, who owns a kaleidoscope shop across the street from the brothel, knows a great deal about the fragmentation of a life. He takes a keen interest in Julianne and prompts her to face the past she is running from.

As she becomes more and more involved in the world of the ghosts, and a murder that took the life of one of them, she drifts away from the world of the living. Julianne is forced to choose between disappearing completely into the world of the dead or accepting the loss she has suffered and returning to her life.
 

Amy Waddell: writer/director

Born in Athens, Greece and raised by fine artists, Waddell’s strong visual sense compliments her vivid storytelling ability. Her latest film, a 24 minute piece, The Mask Maker, was selected for twenty film festivals, and won a gold medal for “best short” at the Chicago International Film Festival. Waddell made the film after being selected as one of eight women to participate in the prestigious Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) at the American Film Institute. Ninety percent of the women in the Directors Guild of America are alumni of the DWW.  She is a graduate of USC Film School. She has penned screenplays and fiction. She has worked in the industry as a writer, director and film editor. Her award winning documentary, The Reluctant Muse, which she wrote directed and produced, aired nationally on PBS.