Megacities
WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION 5

New York, Mexico, Mumbai, Moscow and their inhabitants. But not those from the front pages of newspapers or gossip columns. The protagonists of the film are nameless inhabitants of contemporary multi-million metropolis, the sort of people we usually pass by indifferently. Beggars, petty street dealers, teenage drug addicts or prostitutes.

For instance, El Kukin, or Ernesto Martinez Libera, a resident of Mexico, a garbage truck operator who wants to become a football star. Or Sianka from Mumbai, who used to sell balloons, and now, thanks to his projector, “makes the kids happy”. He makes his living by playing old films to them. In the street, a young man from New York sells shirts produced in Mumbai. “Two shirts for five dollars only”, is his commercial slogan. In Mexico City, street trading is flourishing too. Mr and Mrs Rodriguez have five children, but in order to maintain their family, every day, they have to sell broth made of chicken paws. In Moscow, a teenage beggar is asking for “some spare change for bread”. But then, spends all the money on drinking with his friends. And then, there is a young Mexican girl, Mariana Gonzales, alias Kasandra, who works 7 days a week as a stripper in a night club. She raises three kids. She wants to buy a piece of land, something she will not have to pay rent for. In Mumbai, on a crowded train, a girl is singing a song. We do not know the lyrics but we can easily imagine what the song is about. She is probably singing about people just like her – the margins of society, who have dreams and try to get by somehow.

They all have dreams. Dreams of a better life, a new house, a trip to L.A. For most of them, dreams make their lives worth living.

The film will be shown courtesy of Planete+ Doc Film Festival.