PODCAST: Alex Rivera & Leonor Varela

"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," praised Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times. Visually arresting indeed, the debut feature from co-writer/director Alex Rivera may be the first sci-fi film set in a third-world locale:

"Mexico. The near future. Memo Cruz has always dreamed of leaving his tiny village and heading north. But when he is ultimately forced to leave, Memo finds a future so bizarre—border walls, shantytowns, hi-tech factories, remote control drones and aqua-terrorists—that it looks a lot like today."

Sitting down before its U.S. theatrical release, Rivera, co-star Leonor Varela and I jacked into a conversation about what the film's really about, the evils as well as the benefits of globalization, and how to find the balance between subtlety and ideological preaching in a sci-fi allegory... all after Varela offered up an amazing impression of a horse. (It was actually in context, but thank goodness I didn't have to transcribe that!)

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Sleep Dealer opens tomorrow in New York and Los Angeles. For more info, visit the official site.

Posted by ahillis at April 16, 2009 7:23 PM