DREAMERS AND I, THE

Set in a Silicon Valley “hacker house,” THE DREAMERS AND I explores how innovative and disruptive ideas are incubated, nurtured and all too often shattered. The film follows three immigrant entrepreneurs trying to make their high-tech dreams come true: Carlos de la Lama-Noriega (Madrid), who started a hacker house that offers an affordable, welcoming live/work community to migrants like material scientist Habibe Turfan (Istanbul) and A.I. creator Lucas González (Seville). Inspired by how similar the battle to start a business and produce a documentary can be, filmmaker Kenji Yamamoto becomes the story’s fourth character, joining Carlos, Habibe and Lucas in their Sisyphean struggles of self-doubt, financial ruin and endangered marriages. At first, Kenji thought his characters’ failures or successes would define the film but discovered that it is about something deeper: what happens when dreams and reality collide.