I Have Always Been A Dreamer

I Have Always Been A Dreamer is an essay film about globalization and urban ecology using the examples of two cities in contrasting states of development: Dubai, UAE and Detroit, U.S.A. Within the context of a boom and bust economy, the film questions the collective ideologies that shape the physical landscape and impact local communities.

Though these cities represent two different economic eras (Fordist and Post-Fordist), both cities vividly illustrate the effects of economic monocultures and the arbitrary consequences of geopolitical advantage. The film serves as a visual documentation of these two cities as indexes of political, cultural and economic change while tracing the ways each city’s development is tied to technologies of communication, production, labor, and consumption.

The portion of the film concerning Dubai depicts a postmodern city in a continual process of being built, and posits Dubai as virtual in the sense that it is artificial, performed and shaped by an increasingly service-based economy driven by tourism. By contrast, the portion of the film depicting Detroit reveals a once shining example of a Fordist city presently in ruins and in the process of being vacated, beleaguered by a failing industrial-based economy vacillating between ideologies of self-preservation and destruction.

The film was shot in Detroit, MI and Dubai, UAE, exploring their landscape through various modes of transport, and includes interviews with local historians, scholars, and artists. The film was produced between 2007 and 2012.

Directed/ Produced by: Sabine Gruffat
Cinematography: Sabine Gruffat
Sound Design: Sabine Gruffat
Includes Interviews with: Jerry Herron, George Karyotidis, Mitch Cope, Constance Bodurow, Freda G. Sampson, Colin Branson, Co-lab Creative, Matt Kelson, Douglas Crawford, Toufic Araman
Additional Camera and Sound Recording: Bill Brown and Ben Russell
Sound Mix: Paul Geluso
Music: Nathan Halverson and Stephen Vitiello