A Dream Is What You Wake Up From (1978) [N/A]
Directed by:
Larry Bullard, Carolyn Y. Johnson
Release Date:
January 1, 1978
Original Title:
A Dream Is What You Wake Up From
Genres:
Documentary
Production Companies:
Third World Newsreel
Production Countries:
United States of America
Ratings / Certifications:
N/A
Runtime: 61
Three black families, observed in their daily lives, their thoughts, values, and aspirations expressed on the soundtrack, and their different approaches to the struggle for survival in contemporary society and their methods of coping with the contradictory stresses placed on the individual in the family environment.
A DREAM IS WHAT YOU WAKE UP FROM explores the role of Black families in American society. The everyday lives of three Black families with different approaches to their struggle for survival in the United States are represented through a mix of fiction and documentary scenes, a docudrama style inspired by the work of Afro-Cuban filmmaker Sara Gómez. Filmmakers Larry Bullard and Carolyn Y. Johnson relied on a mix of documentary and drama to record families engaged in their day to day activities at home, at work, and in school. This material was juxtaposed with a soundtrack on which family members discuss their individual thoughts, values, and aspirations. With this hybrid film style, the filmmakers were able to reveal and examine the gaps between everyday reality and the way in which it is perceived by each individual.
