Viral Dreams

Seven young people from across the world shared their exciting plans for 2020 when “virus” started trending online. From the pandemic, through to the BLM movement and on to the US elections – VIRAL DREAMS features over a year’s worth o real-time video posts, and depicts the surprising resilience of a new generation to a global change no one saw coming.

Year

2021

Length

3x30 min

Director

Udi Nir & Sagi Bornstein

Synopsis

Follow the journeys of 7 YouTubers through a year like no other, in a bitter-sweet portrait of the Gen Z and our new viral world.

Composed entirely of videos uploaded to social media over the course of 2020, VIRAL DREAMS tells the story of a rapidly changing world. Through the eyes of 7 protagonists in their early 20’s we follow a new generation, coming to age in unprecedented times. Each of the protagonists has a long-cherished dream they plan to accomplish, but as the year unfolds the world around them starts to change dramatically: news of a novel virus emerges, Black Lives Matter Protests take to the streets, the US elects a new president, and an economic crisis is looming on the horizon. As the protagonists try to find their way in this increasingly unforeseeable future, they turn to Social Media to communicate and express themselves, while documenting everything from long-distance relationships to job loss and financial hardships, to surprising political awakenings.

Credits

Directors
Udi Nir & Sagi Bornstein

Producers
Christian Beetz, Udi Nir, Sagi Bornstein

Executive Producer
Georg Tschurtschenthaler

Line Producer
Kathrin Isberner

Associate Producer
Anne Von Petersdorff

Editor
Sagi Bornstein

Research
Offir Yitzhak Merkel & Maor Tovim

Graphic Design
Guy Dahan

Music
Nils Kacirek & Milan Meyer-Kaya, Lauterfisch Music

German Versioning
Kerstin Meyer-Beetz & Rabea Rahmig

Featuring videos by
@BB Tequila, @Cass and Jay, @Tinie Planet, @Mallu Traveler, @Nathaniel Drew, @Riley Tench, @Justin Marcus

A production by gebrueder beetz filmproduktion and udiVsagi
In co-production with ZDF
In collaboration with ARTE, SVT, DR, HOT original and Channel 8.

Sales & distribution

Trailer

„Just in diesem Moment überraschen uns die aus dem Theaterbereich stammenden jungen Regisseure Hans Block und Moritz Riesewieck mit einem erstaunlichen Dokumentarfilm, der seit Monaten Publikum und Kritik auf den wichtigsten Festivals der Welt elektrisiert. Völlig zu Recht: Es ist, als würden einem die Scheuklappen weggerissen, als sähe man das, was sich seit Jahren direkt vor unseren Augen abspielt, zum ersten Mal unverschleiert... eine fesselnde ,Doku noir' mit höchstem Anspruch...Dieser Film müsste an allen Schulen gezeigt werden.“
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
17.05.2018