TheyDream

After an unexpected death in the family, a Puerto Rican-American filmmaker teams up with his grieving mother, collaborating alongside her to tell stories of familial love and loss.

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Length
90 minutes
Funding Initiative
Diversity Development Fund
Open Call
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Director/ Producer

William D. Caballero

William D. Caballero is the project director, producer, writer, animator, and editor. His autobiographical animated shorts have debuted at the 2017 and 2022 Sundance Film Festivals. He is a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow, 2021 Creative Capital Awardee, 2022 Sundance Documentary Humanities Fellow, and 2024 Webby Award winner for Best Art Direction.

Producer

Erin Ploss-Campoamor

Erin Ploss-Campoamor is an award-winning filmmaker, with experience in both documentary and narrative, the director of several shorts and the producer of a feature film, Dark Mirror (IFC Films). She wrote and directed the semi-autobiographical short film La Americanita (The American Girl), which won two Best Short Film awards, as well as the short film April in the Morning.… Show more Erin is the producer and co-writer of Love & Monster Trucks, a feature length narrative film, in development, for which she was recently a semifinalist for the Sundance Institute's Creative Producing Fellowship and the Sundance Writer’s Institute. Ploss-Campoamor was born in Canada to American parents and raised all over North America in an extended multicultural family, speaking English, Spanish, and French. Show less

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The Film

While on vacation with his mother in 2022, William D. Caballero’s grandmother suddenly passed away. His mother, who had been her caretaker, felt guilty for not being there in her final moments. Following this loss, William joins his mother in her first venture into creative filmmaking and directing as they collaborate on animated shorts about their family’s legacy, transforming their grief through the creative process.

Using innovative techniques, ranging from 3D motion capture to rotoscope animation, William and his mother bring life to their Puerto Rican-American family members who have passed away. They draw on decades of their relatives’ audio interviews that give voice to their hopes, dreams, imperfections, and an unwavering sense of duty. Grandfather Victor is the star of the “Gran’Pa Knows Best” segment, featuring 3D-printed miniatures, while William’s father, Chilly, is featured in “Chilly and Milly,” an animated short documentary. Moments are tender and intense, from a deathbed scene with Victor to a discussion in which Chilly’s homophobia prevents him from accepting his son’s bisexuality. 

TheyDream honors the importance of centering self-worth, surmounting barriers, and harnessing creativity amidst the familial duties and tensions that many Latinos navigate in today’s America. The film combines the cultural pride and idiosyncrasies of a family with the fantasy and gravitas of storytelling, standing as a testament to the therapeutic power of the arts as a mother and son come together in collaboration.

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