A Dream Is What You Wake Up From

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.[1]

A Dream Is What You Wake Up From
Directed by
  • Larry Bullard
  • Carolyn Johnson
Produced byThird World Newsreel
Music byCharrles Sullivan
CinematographyLarry Bullard
Edited byAllan Siegel
Release date
1978
Running time
50 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The blending of documentary and narrative filmmaking makes it deliberately "unclear"[1] 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,[2] whom the film is dedicated to along with Mozambican activist Josina Machel.

References
  1. Brody, Richard. "A Rare Film About Gendered Oppression in African-American Family Life". The New Yorker. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  2. "A Dream is What You Wake Up From". Brooklyn Academy of Music. Retrieved 3 November 2020.


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