DREAMS
'DREAMS'
a film by M.K. Mousanz, Sergio Vázquez-Mora & Oscar A. Flores
What is ‘DREAMS’?
The DREAMS project is an anthology of short films produced by us: M.K. Mousanz, Sergio Vázquez-Mora & Oscar A. Flores; three Mexican filmmakers living in Los Angeles, California.
The idea behind it is to portray how abstract and nonsensical a person’s dreams can get. At the same time, this proved to be the perfect opportunity to showcase the style each of the us has by having each short film be directed by a different person.
Each sequence is almost completely freeform, except for one basic rule:
Use the same lead actor for the entirety of the project.
This collection of short films represents the absurdity and abstraction of a person’s dreams.
The Dream Sequences:
‘A Shadow of Doubt’ (2022) - Directed by M.K. Mousanz
The Dreamer is followed by a mysterious shadow figure who, after being confronted, turns out to be an unexpected familiar face.
[Released]
‘Welcome to the Hollywood Experience’ (2024) - Directed by Sergio Vázquez-Mora
This short film follows the Dreamer as he explores Hollywood Boulevard and his perception of this landmark changes drastically as he interacts with the locals.
[In Post-Production]
‘Everything You Need is Down Here’ (2024) - Directed by Oscar A. Flores
The Dreamer has a very cozy and undisturbed life which is only made better by the small -yet hard-working- team of hands that do everything around the house for him. Even if it means shielding him from the harsh realities of life.
[In Pre-Production]
Oscar’s film, “Everything You Need Is Down Here”, is the final piece of this ‘DREAMS’ Collection which uses fantasy as a medium to represent a sense of grief over a lost relationship as well as the trauma and depression caused by it.
This final piece also serves as a beautiful glimpse of hope as well as the perfect tie-in for the entire DREAMS project.
Mission Statement
DREAMS is a love letter to diversity, collaboration and creativity. In this project, Katt, Sergio & Oscar let their creativity flow in harmony to create a visually stunning and narratively cohesive world in which each one of them can explore their deepest fears, thoughts and hopes.
Why do we want to create this project?
The DREAMS project is important to us because it represents the culmination of a core philosophy shared by the three of us: the idea that filmmaking is a collective effort and that, when people join forces, ideas and styles, we can make greater things than if we simply worked on our own projects by ourselves.
On top of that, the DREAMS project is the very first step for us to follow our own dream to become professional filmmakers and eventually create our very own Feature Films that will hopefully represent our ideas, culture and values in the best possible way.
Inspirations Behind This Project
Our biggest visual and conceptual inspirations for this project are the works of artists such as: Luis Buñuel, Alejandro G. Iñarritú, Guillermo del Toro, Federico Fellini & Wong Kar-Wai.
The Surrealist Movement
Another big inspiration comes from the surrealist movement of the 1920’s, in the form of an experimental game called ‘The Exquisite Corpse’, in which people would assemble words or images. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule or by being allowed to see only the end of what the previous person contributed. We took this concept and applied it to the medium of filmmaking.
Funding
Seeing as one of the short films (A Shadow Of Doubt) is already finished and another one (Welcome To The Hollywood Experience) is deep in post-production, most of the funding will go to the final film (Everything You Need Is Down Here).
Your donations will help us greatly to pay for things such as:
Equipment rental, crew rates and meals & post-production, marketing and festival run of the entire project.
Additionally, if we are able to reach our extended goal, we will be able to do touch-ups to the already-shot films.
HOW CAN YOU HELP US?
We appreciate any type of help you can provide us. Whether it is a nice comment under our posts, a shoutout on your social media profile, or putting in a nice word about us to your peers.
That being said, making films is expensive! So, if you could pitch in a few dollars to our campaign, it would help us greatly to achieve our goal and bring this project into life.
Thank You!
From the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank you for your time and consideration. We can’t wait to have you become part of our ‘DREAMS’.
Oscar Flores is a queer Latino immigrant from Guadalajara Mexico who just graduated from the School of Theater, Film, and Television at UCLA in 2023. He studied theater at the University of Guadalajara before moving to the United States in 2015 with a single goal in mind, becoming a filmmaker. He has a very contagious sense of childlike wonder which was reflected in the small simple documentaries he used to edit in high school.
His main directorial influences are magical realistic pieces from directors such as Fellini, Bergman, and Guillermo del Toro. His previous works are a reflection of subjects that Latino culture has inherently avoided speaking about, such as mental health.
His main goals are to create stories that embrace his roots and portray the wide spectrum of human feelings to give voice to underrepresented groups such as the LGBTQI+ community.
M.K. Mousanz (also known as “Katt” by his peers), showed his love for art from a very early age. He would often take his dad’s old tape camcorder to record short films which he and his cousins would write and act in. Katt would then spend hours editing these fun little films on a VHS player.
In later years, Katt’s interest would shift from film to music and then back to film again. His biggest artistic influences are The Beatles, Stanley Kubrick, Pink Floyd, Alfonso Cuarón & Wong Kar-Wai.
When Katt met Sergio in 2016 and Oscar in 2021, he didn’t only meet his best friends, but also a pair of great collaborators with whom he created their own Production House, Flat Memory Media.
Sergio is a Mexican-American Filmmaker from Guadalajara, the cultural heart and soul of México. Sergio has a passion for Mexican culture and aims to challenge and reframe societal notions of identity through his artistic vision and unique point-of-view as a Mexican-American Immigrant.
Sergio has worked as an independent photographer and filmmaker since 2019, specializing in social events, documentaries, and music videos. During his time at UCLA, he interned in social media marketing and development for New Cadence Productions, a film and television production company that focuses on aspirational Latino stories. Currently, he is working as an Associate Producer for the upcoming documentary of UCLA Professor Rory Kelly.
Through his work, Sergio strives to shed light on the beauty, complexity, and richness of Mexican culture and inspire others to challenge societal norms and embrace their unique identities in all the beautiful, the bad, and the ugly
