"In Dreamstates, Indigo and Spoonie fall in love in a string of embraces and sweet nothings uttered in the closes quarters of a tour bus and deftly illustrated from the vintage of a smartphone, which places de viewer squarely between two lovers at their most vulnerable. Uzeyman later captures the insecurity and alienation that can portend a crumbling relationship. The couple falls out of love in equally intimate but awkward exchanges and pregnant pauses that say much more than either character could about the status of their journey, which fades across a series of avant-garde performances and backstage exchanges that give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the major players in the Afropunk movement. Uzeyman’s weapons of choice reinforce the importance of the left-of-center cultural phenomenon, which has grown beyond the borders of Brooklyn to venues in Atlanta and Paris in recent years." 

@KARASLAMB | OKAYPLAYER.COM

In her debut feature film, made in collaboration with Saul Williams (SLAM), Anisia Uzeyman’s hypnotic, non-linear storytelling spurs a dreamlike, recursive experience as audiences are taken on an underground journey where myths and reality blur. Experimental visions are built by steadily layering enigmatic black spaces onto hyper saturated colors, a bold approach with an iPhone as the film’s camera.  

–Roya Rastegar & Stephanie Owens, L.A Film Festival

To Anisia Uzeyman, the United States are a dream. Complete with surreal landscapes and too real terrors, her portrait of the country is both a panegyric and a cautionary tale. Shot in 2012 on an iPhone 4 and 4S, Dreamstates finds success in moments of sincerity allowed by an inconspicuous, always-ready camera. With a more traditional approach and an earlier release date, Uzeyman could have made the same splash that Sean Baker did at Sundance 2015 with iPhone-shot Tangerine. But rather than emulate a big-budget aesthetic, Uzeyman makes poetry of love, pain and music within the black American experience.

-T. Anthony Schear, REELYDOPE

Edited by
Jean Marie Lengellé (Blue is the Warmest Color, Timbuktu)

Sound Designer
Blake Leyh (The Wire, Tremé, Into the Woods)