Sweet Dreams, 34min., USA
Directed by Gary Alvarez
Set in the near future when most people can no longer dream, "Sweet Dreams" follows the story of Esperanza, a young woman who's excited to be a mom for the first time. Weeks before the baby is due, her partner Kiké goes missing. As she searches for him and her savings dwindle, she comes across an opportunity to make some quick money: surrogate dreaming, a new technological advancement which allows her to sell the dreams of her unborn child through a dreamcatcher clinic. After a trial run, Esperanza begins to suspect that the clinic is somehow connected to Kiké's disappearance.

https://www.instagram.com/sweetdreams_film/

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

A conversation I had with my wife when she was about 6 months pregnant with our son, Sol. We discovered that he was dreaming in the womb and that idea blew my mind! I thought it would make a good story and I started writing the script later that night.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you
to make this film?

3 years and 5 months.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?

Must watch!

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

Post-production: from false starts on VFX to losing an AE to scheduling sound design and raising funds to pay for all of it!

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking
about your film in the feedback video?

"Wow, they get the story on more than one level" I thought to myself. As the writer/director, it's interesting to hear what aspects of the film stuck out to them and how they interpreted the meaning of the story. Thank you to the festival for including the bilingual audience member, I appreciate his feedback in Spanish! I've been wondering how bilingual/biculutral moviegoers would respond to the film and he picked up on certain elements the others didn't mention.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

In my mid-20s, after a coast-to-coast hitchhiking mission across Mexico. During that trip, I started writing a manuscript for a Chicano version of ON THE ROAD. Later, that manuscript evolved into my thesis film at Chapman. I hope to direct the feature film some day...

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other
festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking
career?

I would love to attend Wildsound in person, meet the organizers and feeback folk to thank them personally, network with other filmmakers, walk the Red Carpet and attend the Awards Show, connect with and pitch to producers/greenlighters/financers who can help me and other filmmakers develop our shorts into features and/or series...

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your
experiences been working on the festival platform site?

All positive except for one festival which shall remain nameless due to their lack of communication...That aside, I like FilmFreeway for many reasons: their discount for Gold Members; the way they organize festivals into categories like Academy Award Qualifying, Top 100 Best Reviewed, Sci-fi, Latinx, Woman-centered, etc. as well as all the background information FilmFreeway provides for each fest including Audience Attendance and Years Running.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Tacos al pastor, TJ style, sprinkled with sal y limon and topped with salsa verde! Gotta wash it down with homemade horchata on the rocks!

11. What is next for you? A new film?

I'm currently adapting an original pilot I wrote into a graphic novel about a Chicano superhero called BROWN FALCON. He fights government AI Super Agents, killer cops, ICE, corrupt politicians and the president himself! Fingers crossed that the graphic novel leads to a feature film which could then be developed into the series I initially intended...