La vida es sueño

Vanesa Abajo Pérez

In a surreal narration full of marvellous images, Vanesa dissects the dream of her parents who fled the deep poverty of Spain for the Netherlands. In the end of the 1960s, Vanesa’s parents fled Franco-regime’s deep poverty to pursue their dream in the Netherlands.

Working their blue-collar jobs for hours and hours, for over 45 years, their purpose was to return to Spain wealthy and comfortable. There, in a house full of Dutch porcelain and shiny gold, they can now finally rest. Vanesa was raised and resides in the Netherlands, but still feels trapped in their expectant illusion, even with the distance between them. Torn between two homes, she starts to re-examine her past.

What kind of life did they truly live? And did she have the freedom to make her own life decisions?

In Life Is Dream the director dissects her family’s immigrant-dream with the poetry and precision of her camera. While the boundaries between dream and reality, illusion and disillusion, slowly dissolve, the film develops into an intimate, surrealist story of self-discovery questioning the value of family ties.

After the film there will be a live Q&A with the director Vanesa Abajo Pérez.

In het Nederlands

In 1960 verhuizen de ouders van Vanesa naar Nederland. Ze vluchtten van het Franco-regieme en armoede in de hoop hun dromen te kunnen verwezenlijken in een nieuw land. In deze film onderzoekt de regisseur de immigrantendroom van haar familie door middel van haar camera. Terwijl de grenzen tussen droom en werkelijkheid, illusie en desillusie langzaam verdwijnen, verandert de film in een intiem, surrealistisch verhaal over zelfontdekking en de waarde van familiebanden.

Deze voorstelling heeft al plaatsgevonden
  • filmspecial
Nederland
2020
101’
Spaans, Nederlands gesproken
Engels ondertiteld

In a surreal narration full of marvellous images, Vanesa dissects the dream of her parents who fled the deep poverty of Spain for the Netherlands. In the end of the 1960s, Vanesa’s parents fled Franco-regime’s deep poverty to pursue their dream in the Netherlands.

Working their blue-collar jobs for hours and hours, for over 45 years, their purpose was to return to Spain wealthy and comfortable. There, in a house full of Dutch porcelain and shiny gold, they can now finally rest. Vanesa was raised and resides in the Netherlands, but still feels trapped in their expectant illusion, even with the distance between them. Torn between two homes, she starts to re-examine her past.

What kind of life did they truly live? And did she have the freedom to make her own life decisions?

In Life Is Dream the director dissects her family’s immigrant-dream with the poetry and precision of her camera. While the boundaries between dream and reality, illusion and disillusion, slowly dissolve, the film develops into an intimate, surrealist story of self-discovery questioning the value of family ties.

After the film there will be a live Q&A with the director Vanesa Abajo Pérez.

In het Nederlands

In 1960 verhuizen de ouders van Vanesa naar Nederland. Ze vluchtten van het Franco-regieme en armoede in de hoop hun dromen te kunnen verwezenlijken in een nieuw land. In deze film onderzoekt de regisseur de immigrantendroom van haar familie door middel van haar camera. Terwijl de grenzen tussen droom en werkelijkheid, illusie en desillusie langzaam verdwijnen, verandert de film in een intiem, surrealistisch verhaal over zelfontdekking en de waarde van familiebanden.

Ticket info

For tickets with a Cineville or Strippenkaart is an extra fee of € 2,50.