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Film screening: "The Golden Dream"

Friday, February 15, 2019
7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, University at Albany Downtown Campus.

The Golden Dream movie poster
 

Free and open to the public.

(Mexico/Spain/Guatemala, 2013, 108 minutes, color)
Directed by Diego Quemada-Díez.
Starring Brandon López, Rodolfo Domínguez, Karen Martínez.

Three teenagers attempt to escape poverty in Guatemala by embarking on a perilous journey to the United States.

The New York Times also praised THE GOLDEN DREAM: "The movie unblinkingly observes the hardships endured by these vulnerable children, who are harassed by soldiers and policemen, roughed up, robbed, forced to work as drug mules and imprisoned by kidnappers. Occasionally, they are encouraged by onlookers who toss them fruits and vegetables."

In a 2014 story in The Guardian, Quemada-Díez shared the dangers he encountered making this film:

"It�s taken more than a decade for Diego Quemada-Diez to bring his first feature film to the screen, but there were moments when even that prospect looked unlikely. 'I had a gun put to my head on three or four occasions,' he says. 'I would be hanging out along these railroads and in pretty difficult neighbourhoods. I almost got kidnapped a few times, too.'"

The Wall Street Journal reviewer said, “The filmmaking is fluid and electric; the acting, precise; the archetypal storytelling, seamless and brutal… there’s no getting away without it leaving a mark.”

Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute as part of its Classic Film Series, presented with support from Marc Guggenheim, UAlbany Class of ‘92. The screening is free and open to the public.