Sleep Dealer

Sleep Dealer
Promotional film poster
Directed by	Alex Rivera
Produced by	Anthony Bregman
Written by	Alex Rivera David Riker
Starring	Luis Fernando Peña Leonor Varela Jacob Vargas
Music by	Tomandandy
Cinematography	Lisa Rinzler
Editing by	Alex Rivera Jeffrey M. Werner
Distributed by	Maya Entertainment
Release date(s)	Sundance Film Festival: 19 January 2008
Running time	90 min.
Country	United States Mexico
Language	Spanish English

Sleep Dealer is a 2008 futuristic science fiction film directed by Alex Rivera.

Plot

'Sleep Dealer' is set in a future, militarized world marked by closed borders, virtual labor and a global digital network that joins minds and experiences, where three strangers risk their lives to connect with each other and break the barriers of technology.

Memo Cruz (Luis Fernando Peña), works at a factory, one of several sleep dealers. Here, the bodies of the workers are suspended as they are connected into the network. The sleep dealers are called so because one may collapse if one works long enough. The story is told as a flash back, as Memo remembers his home in Santa Ana Del Rio, Oaxaca. His father wants him to participate in growing crops on the family estate. Memo's passion however is electronics and hacking. The estate however has dried up on account of a dam built nearby. The media on American hi-def TV shows glimpses of a technological dystopia in a positive way. As a hobby, Memo is building an electronic receiver that can tap into communications. As he continues to work on it, its range increases to far away cities. Soon, he can tap into military and law enforcement communications.

One summer, a remote controlled military aerial vehicle almost caught him intercepting military frequency, an act that warrants a brutal attack. He disconnects in time before the drone can locate him with certainty. On another occasion, he and his brother watch live TV broadcast about drone action that is about to destroy a trailer known to be intercepting drone communication. They quickly realize that it is their own trailer where Memo has his equipment, and run to save their father whose life is in danger. However, they are too late, and the vehicle launches a rocket at the father, who had miraculously escaped a first attack on the trailer, instantly killing him. The pilot of the drone is shown to be Rudy Ramirez (Jacob Vargas). Memo boards a bus to the city Tijuana an find work.

The same bus is also boarded by Luz Martínez (Leonor Varela). Memo notices that Luz has nodes on the wrist for interfacing with the digital network, and asks her where he can get them for free. She tells him that he can find someone, known as a coyotek, to connect him by asking around in a certain alley. Luz has loans and may default. She makes a living by uploading memories to an online memory trading company 'True node' where viewers pay for content. She uploads her memory of meeting Memo.

Memo is robbed of his money during his first attempt to seek a coyotek. He finds an abandoned shack to stay at the edge of the city, where other node workers live. Luz gets a sale for her memory of Memo, and a prepaid offer for her next memory of him. Luz finds him and comes to know he is out of money. She helps him get a node-job at a bar, which has the equipment. It so happens that she is the coyotek, having learned from her ex-boyfriend and she does him a favor.

Luz tries to upload more experiences. Truenode makes her reveal feelings rather than just the story. The person who requested the information is revealed to be Ramirez working for the military. Ramirez wants to find out Luz and Memo open up to each other and have a connected sex. Upon receiving the next upload, Ramirez has his doubts confirmed that his work made him kill a good man, though his family still supports him by saying that he did a good thing.

Memo discovers that Luz has been paid to upload her memories of him, and so he leaves her feeling betrayed. He works over-time at the sleep-dealer and also at the bar risking exhaustion. Luz writes to him and mails him a recording of her memories as a parting gift. In the meantime, Ramirez has crossed the border to meet Memo. As Ramirez explains himself, Memo tries to run perceiving danger. Ramirez catches up and explains he was under orders and offers to help.

Memo finds Luz and assures her no wrong is done. They connect Ramirez into the network. He uses his military authorization to control an aerial vehicle to destroy the dam. Ramirez is pursued by other aerial vehicles upon discovery that Ramirez is not heeding orders. In the ensuing chase, Ramirez manages to blow up the dam. Memo receives news from home, celebrations of the wrecking of the dam. Ramirez goes further south in Mexico as he no longer able to return home. Memo moves on with his life in Tijuana.

Cast

• Leonor Varela as Luz Martínez
• Jacob Vargas as Rudy Ramirez
• Luis Fernando Peña as Memo Cruz

Reception

Sleep Dealer won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, The H.R. Giger Award for the Best International Film at The Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival, and a special mention Amnesty International Film Prize at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. The film was nominated for a Breakthrough director at the Gotham Independent Film Awards 2008, and an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature in 2009.

A.O. Scott, of The New York Times wrote "Exuberantly entertaining — a dystopian fable of globalization disguised as a science-fiction adventure…. Mr. Rivera — a brilliant young director — takes his audience into a future of “aqua-terrorism” and cyberlabor that I wish I could dismiss as implausible..." in his review of the 2008 New Directors/New Films festival.

Kenneth Turan, of The Los Angeles Times wrote "Adventurous, ambitious and ingeniously futuristic, "Sleep Dealer" is a welcome surprise. It combines visually arresting science fiction done on a budget with a strong sense of social commentary in a way that few films attempt, let alone achieve..." in his review of the film.

External links

• Official website
• Sleep Dealer at Rotten Tomatoes
• Sleep Dealer at the Internet Movie Database

Awards
Preceded by Dark Matter	Alfred P. Sloan Prize Winner 2008	Succeeded by Adam