NOTHING MORE PERMANENT THAN THE TEMPORARY







Set in California’s Inland Empire, the film follows a man living out of his car whose temporary circumstances slowly turn into permanence. What begins as a short-term solution becomes a portrait of endurance, of someone holding onto dignity as the world around him begins to ignore.










SYNOPSIS

Nothing More Permanent Than the Temporary is a reflection on invisibility and survival in contemporary America. Set in California’s Inland Empire, the film follows a man living out of his car whose temporary circumstances slowly turn into permanence. What begins as a short-term solution becomes a portrait of endurance, of someone holding onto dignity as the world around him begins to ignore.

The film examines how economic precarity and selfhood intertwine. Through stillness, silence, and attention to detail, it captures the subtle erosion of identity that occurs when time itself becomes cyclical and waiting becomes a way of life. At its core, Nothing More Permanent Than the Temporary reflects on the false comfort of impermanence, the belief that instability is momentary and that persistence will eventually lead to change. The film resists this narrative, showing instead how the boundaries between temporary and permanent collapse for those left unseen.

The film invites the audience to look closely, to sit in silence, and to recognize the humanity in what is often overlooked. Nothing More Permanent Than the Temporary is not just a film, it’s also a social study, an effort to show how society pushes people and their stories to the margins.

Nothing More Permanent Than the Temporary
is a short film about the erosion of self that comes with homelessness and the false promise of impermanence. Set in the Inland Empire, it follows a man living out of his car whose “temporary” solution becomes an enduring state of survival. The film explores how economic precarity and social invisibility intertwine, forming a cycle that traps people in conditions they once believed they could escape. What begins as a pitstop turns into a slow permanence, a state of paralysis.


















© Faye Smernou 2025. All Rights Reserved.