Female Director(s), Music, New York, NY Director(s), Female Screenwriter(s), First Time Filmmaker
A reverie of images and sound, Below Dreams loosely follows the narratives of three very different people—Elliott, newly arrived from New York, single mother Leann, and unemployed father Jamaine—as they negotiate New Orleans’ streets, neighborhoods, and residents in search of an upward path to fulfill their dreams. But as each character experiences the city’s (and life’s) realities, it becomes clear these hopes and dreams are no longer possible, and that with change must also come sacrifice. Garrett Bradley’s impressive debut feature is shot verité documentary style to provide an unpolished, affecting realness as we become immersed in the characters’ individual challenges and quests amid the relaxed, yet demanding urban backdrop of the Crescent City.
-Brian Gordon
This film is co-presented by:
CAST & CREDITS
Directed by Garrett Bradley
Garrett Bradley lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is the recipient of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Award, The Lynn Weston Fellowship, The Motion Picture Association of America Award, The Mary Pickford Award, and several academic fellowships. From 2003–2004, Bradley worked as the post-production assistant to filmmakers Laura Poitras and Linda Goode Bryant on the Emmy Nominated-film, Flag Wars. Her first feature length film, Below Dreams, was selected as one of ten for the 2013 IFP Narrative Lab. Bradley has made 24 short films and one feature.