The Dreamers and I
Synopsis
THE DREAMERS AND I is a new film that intimately follows three immigrant entrepreneurs navigating the cutthroat world of the American startup. The stories unfold in an underground Silicon Valley “hacker house”over the course of a tumultuous 10-year period.
As they build their ventures, our DREAMERS are confronted by crushing self-doubt, looming financial collapse and stress – both in Silicon Valley and back home. Through it all, these young founders remain defiantly hopeful, believing that in this place, even failure is a step toward success.
THE DREAMERS AND I is an unflinching examination of the New American Dream and offers an intimate look into how innovative ideas are born, incubated, shattered, and revived.
Film Screening & Ticket Information
When & Where to See this Film!
BLOC: Unique Visions: 2 Docs that celebrate resilience against all odds.
MoMI Bartos
6:00pm Friday, November 7th
Films in this Bloc:
Film Information
From the Director
Director Statement
While editing and producing many independent documentaries, I supported myself as a freelance editor for companies like Apple, Google and Oracle. In spring 2015, while editing the Apple Watch launch videos, I found the 120-mile commute from my home to Apple headquarters in Silicon Valley unbearable, and through Airbnb, found a cheap place to stay in the heart of the valley – Carlos de la Lama Noriega’s Startup Embassy.
Fifty dollars a night, eight bunks to a room. Unlike the characters in the popular HBO series SILICON VALLEY, almost all of whom were American, 85% of Startup Embassy residents are from other countries. Over time, more than 2000 people from 90 different countries stayed there. At Startup Embassy, I got a rare glimpse into the people in this high-tech United Nations and embedded myself there, hoping to capture their own expression of the American dream.
This story of underdogs persisting in the face of enormous obstacles appeals to me because I am the son of Japanese Americans who spent World War II in an internment camp (essentially a prison). During those four years, they lost everything – farms, jobs, chances for higher education – including my father’s dream of becoming an aeronautical engineer or an artist. After the war, he set those wishes aside and became a gardener. He cautioned me to create a fruitful life by looking out for the unit (family and country) before self. The freewheeling human spirits at the hacker house, who were happily striving for their dreams in the face of the great risks of failure, inspired me to set my own barriers aside and follow my own dream.
Director Biography
Kenji Yamamoto is a longtime, renowned filmmaker who has made many documentaries and narratives, mainly about people on the outskirts of society. He participated in the Sundance Screenwriting Lab with his and Nancy Kelly’s narrative feature THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD and in the Sundance Institute Documentary Editing Lab with Jennifer Maytorena’s NEW MUSLIM COOL. He has been partnered with Kelly in life and work since they decided to make a movie based on Ruthanne Lum McCunn’s acclaimed novel of the same name, THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD. He served as producer and editor of that film as well as of the documentaries REBELS WITH A CAUSE, DOWNSIDE UP, SMITTEN and TRUST: SECOND ACTS IN YOUNG LIVES. His films have screened in film festivals worldwide, played in theaters, streamed, and aired on PBS, National Geographic, and Channel Four.
Credits
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Kenji YamamotoDirectorProd/Editor of: Rebels With A Cause, Thousand Pieces of Gold, Trust, Downside UP, Smitten, AWE: Awesome Women Environmentalists
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Kenji YamamotoWriterEditor-Rebels with a Cause, Trust, Downside UP
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Nancy KellyWriterProducer/Director/Writer: Rebels With A Cause, Trust: Second Acts in Young Lives, Downside UP, Smitten, AWE: Awesome Women Environmentalists. Producer/Director Thousand Pieces of Gold.
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Kenji YamamotoProducerCo-Producer-Rebels With A Cause, Trust
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Nancy KellyProducerProducer/Director/Writer: Rebels With A Cause, Trust: Second Acts in Young Lives, Downside UP, Smitten, AWE: Awesome Women Environmentalists. Producer/Director Thousand Pieces of Gold.
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Carlos de la Lama-NoriegaKey Cast“Himself”
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Habibe TurfanKey Cast“Herself”
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Lucas GozálvezKey Cast“Himself”
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Kenji YamamotoKey Cast
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Nancy BlachmanExecutive ProducerExecutive Producer/Producer: Skin of Glass, Crip Camp, Dark Money, Against All Enemies, Plan C, The Infiltrators,
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Erin OwensDistribution Consultant20 Days in Mariupol
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