Dreamcatcher An electrifying and deeply moving documentary

Film classification: 15
Duration: 104 mins
Released: 2015
Director: Kim Longinotto
Country of origin: UK | USA
Classification: 15

Through the remarkable story of Brenda from Chicago, Longinotto’s electrifying and deeply moving documentary 'Dreamcatcher' explores the cycle of neglect, violence and exploitation which each year leaves thousands upon thousands of girls and women feeling that prostitution is their only option to survive.

"Dreamcatcher takes us into a hidden world through the eyes of one of its survivors; Brenda Myers-Powell. A former teenage prostitute who worked the streets of Chicago, Brenda defied the odds to become a powerful advocate for change in her community. With warmth and humour, Brenda gives hope to those who have none. Her story is their inspiration." See the official film site and trailer here.
"Longinotto doesn’t impose a conventional narrative on her story, or those of the women she helps, and gives them the chance to share their harrowing stories without any forced emotional beats. It’s grim, unfussy and deeply moving." Benjamin Lee, The Guardian
"Rightly confident in the potency of her raw material, Longinotto feels little compulsion to trick her film out with fussy or manipulative formal devices. Content is king here, which isn’t to dismiss the penetrating clarity of the helmer’s shooting style or the deft contribution of editor Ollie Huddleston, who knows exactly how long to linger on an interviewee’s face and surroundings — absorbing the finer nuances of their story even after they’ve said their piece." Guy Lodge, Variety
"No doubt bones could be picked with the film’s lacunae and omissions elsewhere, but it deserves all the respect and praise it will no doubt reap for one scene alone: Brenda coaxes a roomful of teenage girls at risk at Paul Robeson High School to discuss their own histories of abuse, and one by one each child shares her story...The stories couldn’t be more harrowing, but perhaps what’s most disturbing — and moving — is the mostly tear-free fortitude with which the girls share these horrors. Listening patiently, Brenda doesn’t flinch once — her own story is just as bad, if not worse — and neither does Longinotto’s camera." Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter

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