Underplayed Gems

A Dream Is What You Wake Up From (1978)

A Dream Is What You Wake Up From poster
Directed by
Larry Bullard, Carolyn Y. Johnson
Genre
documentary
Country
United States
Runtime
50 min
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This film shows the lives of two black families in the United States during the 1970s. One family lives in poverty in Harlem and the other is better off in the New Jersey suburbs. It mixes documentary and acted scenes to explore differences in race, gender, and money.

contemplativeunsettlingcomparativeunclearobservationalsocially-awarethoughtful

What happens

A Dream Is What You Wake Up From is a 1978 American film that combines documentary and narrative techniques to tell the stories of two black families in the United States. The film focuses on the intersection of race, gender, and wealth, comparing and contrasting the lives of a poor Harlem family and a more affluent family in the New Jersey suburbs. The blending of documentary and narrative filmmaking makes it deliberately "unclear" which scenes involve "professional" versus "non-professional" actors (as they are called in the film's credits). The film merely opens with a title card that reads "Segments of this film are dramatized," and only certain scenes—such as a Reconstruction era dramatization—are obviously fictional. This style is said to be inspired by Cuban director Sara Gómez, whom the film is dedicated to along with Mozambican activist Josina Machel. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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