AN AMERICAN PRAYER
My dream is in peril.
Like millions of other young people in the world who used to crave our country, my American Dream was intoxicating. It was the poetry of possibility and wild adventure—the mythical land of rock n roll. The redemption song played in my teenage head where I would be a rockstar like David Bowie and ride a Triumph Bonneville like Bob Dylan. On the freeway of love with Aretha Franklin. In my vision of the country, the words "freedom," "equality," and "justice" shone like neon signs in the night. Every immigrant has their version of the American Dream. But for millions of others, upon whose backs this country and its dreams were built, it is a nightmare.
Most immigrants I know have given up something, worked hard, overcome hell, and high water to pursue America. It is said that when you emigrate to another country, you murder the loved ones you leave behind or condemn them to a prison of your absence. So, looking back on the 25 years since I left the country of my birth, I have killed dozens of people, including my mother and father, who pretended to die of disease and old age, but it was, in truth, the loneliness that killed them. I didn't even attend their funerals. It is one of many sacrifices immigrants make for the American Dream.
All of us Americans, who love our seductive and bewildering country, are painfully aware of the fragile time we live in, and what is at stake come November: the very idea of America, what it means to each one of us, and the rest of the world.
Most of us are doing our bit to keep the nation from derailing. I made a movie about it—an interrogation of the American Dream.
The documentary, "An American Prayer" was produced (safely) during the pandemic in ten weeks, in three countries and six cities by an international cast and crew from the USA, Mexico, and Russia. My team's passion and devotion are evident in the film's poetry, and a testimony to the American Dream's power to reclaim our original ideals.
Please watch the trailer and share it if you are moved. The film premiered at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn on Nov 23, 2021, and has been screening at the festival since. It is streaming on Prime Video, Apple TV, Mubi, and other platforms.
VIEW AN AMERICAN PRAYER
