DREAM EMPIRE

Yana is a 24-year-old rural migrant who recently arrived in Chongqing to pursue her “Chinese Dream.” Drawn by the easy riches of China’s historic real estate boom, she opens a foreigner rental agency designed to help real estate developers market their new developments. This business takes a dubious turn as her foreigners are increasingly used in a surreal effort to turn remote ghost towns into “globalized cities” on the days that outside investors visit. When the inevitable happens and the real estate bubble starts to pop, Yana is forced to sell her company and reassess everything she ever believed in.
Filmed over several years, DREAM EMPIRE is at once a gripping personal story and rare on-the- ground chronicle of one of the most critical economic issues of our time.

PROJECT

Title: Dream Empire
Duration: 73/58
Director: David Borenstein
Producer: Jesper Jack
Cinematography: Lars Skree, David Borenstein
Editors: Anders Villadsen, Christian Einshøi
Composer: Jason Prover
Platforms: Cinema, Broadcast, Customizable events (get quote here)
Partners: DFI, NYTimes, Sundance Institute, WDR/ARTE, VPRO, NRK, DR, YLE, SVT, Al Jazeera, NFTV.
Selected festivals: Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (Winner International competition), Docudays UA International Documentary Human Rights Film Festival (Nominated Best Film), Miami Film Festival (Nominated Best Documentary), Munich International Documentary Festival - (Nominated for DOK.international and opening film), Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival.

STATUS: Premiered 2016 at IDFA