American Dreams Deferred
(60m, U S A, English)
dir. by William D. Caballero

William D. Caballero, a Puerto Rican-American NYU graduate student, journeys home to Fayetteville, North Carolina turning camera on family and self over the course of two years. In this personal narrative, he captures three generations of “beautiful and boisterous” people. Told through mixed media with hand-held camera and a combination of computer and hand-drawn animation, he weaves his family’s migration from Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, then to North Carolina, and back to New York City for grad school. Set against the haunting backdrop of 1980’s Coney Island, individual family members' stories are told of dreams pursued or deferred.
Today his parents live in a trailer in his grandmother’s backyard. His father is a chronic diabetic awaiting a third kidney transplant. His cousin Jay, a reformed substance abuser who served time in jail for domestic violence, attempts barber school. His cousin Wati, under 30, has five kids by three different men. His cousin Vito is HIV+ and a hairstylist attending Community College.
Somehow, William broke the cycle, received a Bill Gates Millennium Scholarship covering college, graduate school and placing him on a Ph.D. track. Though the story is about unconditional family love, it is also about striving for educational goals and an examination of U.S. health care and its impact on families. However, the film underscores the love and relationships shared within family, what defines family to second and third-generation Americans, and whether they impede each other from attaining their dreams.


Friday, 6/24/11
8:00 - 9:30 pm
at Bananas