Synopsis

"Sweet Dreams" is a story of survival. Set in the near future, this sci-fi short film will transport us to a time when most people have stopped dreaming due to severe sleep-deprivation. This extreme lack of sleep is the result of 20-hour workdays, a new norm. Dreamcatcher clinics have popped up all over, offering "surrogate dreaming" services to "lackers" who are willing to pay big bucks for the purest dreams of all: those of babies still in the womb, untouched by the world outside. Out of desperation, Esperanza enters a Dreamcatcher clinic while she's 8-months pregnant. She needs money bad after her partner Kiké disappeared inexplicably, her savings are down to the last $500 and no one will hire her because it's legal to discriminate against pregnant women applying for a job. After a surrogate dreaming session at Roger's clinic, Esperanza experiences sharp pains in her belly - and to her shock, she dreams for the first time in 10 years. She suspects the technology caused the pain and her dream so she steals a pair of electrodes to conduct the procedure at home, where her baby experiences a dream that hints toward Kiké's possible whereabouts... Esperanza confronts Roger with this revelation and he fears that the black-market business he's running behind the clinic's front will be exposed. The two go head to head and Esperanza, her baby and Kiké's fate is on the line.