Based on true events, writer/director Mohit Ramchandani’s City Of Dreams takes viewers into the underbelly of the human trafficking crisis. Jesús (Ari Lopez) is a young Mexican boy whose father, José (Jorge Antonio Guerrero), sends him to California with a soccer camp recruiter, Rodrigo (Francisco Denis), for a “soccer training program” with the hope of giving his son the opportunity to hone his skills and a better life. As Jesús leaves with Rodrigo, holding tight to his soccer camp pamphlet, he quickly realizes that Rodrigo has something much more sinister is planned.
Jesús is brought to a sweatshop with dozens of workers, where they are forced to make dresses while enduring extreme and abusive working conditions led by El Jefe (Alfredo Castro) and Cesar (Andrés Delgado). The slaves are forced to meet impossible quotas, and if there is any pushback or rebellious acts, they are brutally beaten.
“…he quickly realizes that Rodrigo has something much more sinister planned…”
Every now and then a mysterious, veiled woman (Daria A. Meyer) arrives at the sweatshop and inspects the workers, selecting someone to leave with her, with an unknown fate, but the slaves believe it to be something glamorous and a chance at freedom. After Jesús’ only friend Elena (Renata Vaca) is selected to leave, he is left with nothing but the will to escape. A local cop, Stevens, (Jason Patric) becomes suspicious of the compound and begins to monitor the goings on. As he digs deeper, his hands become tied by the web of corruption infecting the LAPD and local government.
Where Sound Of Freedom focuses more on the police investigating the human trafficking crisis in the United States, City of Dreams focuses on the perspective of the child. The main character, Jesús, doesn’t speak a single word the entire film, but the physical performance of innocence lost in his eyes brings a unique power to this film, carrying the story.
"…a masterclass in character development..."
