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Instant Dreams

Willem Baptist

  • “Baptist made such a film as a hallucinatory trip: A beautiful tribute to that enchanting medium.”
    de Volkskrant
  • “The magic of the photo that develops before your eyes”
    Trouw

INSTANT DREAMS is a mind-bending cinematic journey across time and space. The film is a poetic, otherworldly adventure about Polaroids, the impact of future predictions and the necessity of dreams, blurring the line between memories and the imagination. INSTANT DREAMS tells the story of those who eagerly await the rebirth of the classic and recognizable Polaroid photo, and of scientists who are trying to unravel the secrets of the mysterious chemical formula. Each in their own way tries to keeps their instant dream alive. The characters we meet along the way in their journey…

Stefanie Schneider – a free-spirited successful German artist lives in a Polaroid picture-world out in the Californian desert. Her Polaroids are visions of her dreams. As her stock, essentially her lifeblood, runs out, we are treated to one of her last shoots. In New York the scholarly Christopher Bonanos, an editor at New York Magazine, wrote a book on the history of the Polaroid that tries to capture his relationship with his young son. Stephen Herchen, a retired chemist who worked alongside the Polaroid’s inventor, left his family int he US to finish what he started. In his lab in Germany, and in a factory in The Netherlands, he tries to unravel the formula. At night he ponders on what he describes as the chemically most complex manmade thing ever made – something akin to a living organism. Meanwhile in in Tokyo a young girl is just starting to discover it all…Their lives are strangely connected, each in their own way compelled not to let the medium die. In each character we encounter suspense, mystery, quirkiness and humour. We observe touching moments and partake in surreal  situations.

Like Polaroids, themselves, we are chemical beings full of unexpected chemical reactions. The emotions we project onto these small canvasses are like mirrors onto our own imagination, or a culmination of our fuzzy memories. Ultimately the Polaroid picture in INSTANT DREAMS is a metaphor and a window into our need and desire to capture and keep evolving reality.

 

"ID in Rose Dor" In The Press
Rose Dor: Instant Dreams nominated for the 2019 Rose d’Or AwardsMORE +
Mayfair Theatre: Instant Dreams An extraordinary Polaroid trip.MORE +
PodBean: Willem Baptist is a Dutch filmmaker and documentary-director whose latest film is Instant Dreams. Instant Dreams is a feature documentary about the fascination and love for Polaroids.MORE +
The Stranger: Dutch filmmaker Willem Baptist sets out to tell the story of the Polaroid and delve into its unkillable appeal.MORE +
Geeks media: "Lovers of experimental documentary and old school photography will love the work of director Willem Baptist."MORE +
Quelle Movies: "Directed by Willem Baptist, Instant Dreams is a moody and atmospheric eulogy to a lost technology."MORE +
Black Girl Nerds: "Instant Dreams is 91 minutes of a shared obsession between the individuals with Polaroid film."MORE +
Vulture: Polaroid Historian writes about being a subject in Willem Baptist's Instant DreamsMORE +
Isuu: "INSTANT DREAMS is a cinematic journey... a metaphor for our desire to catch our dreams"MORE +
HAMMER TO NAIL on INSTANT DREAMS : "A beautiful visual metaphor for the magic of perception...to be savored long after the movie is over."MORE +
The Film Experience: INSTANT DREAMS "offers a visually dazzling nostalgia trip." MORE +
JB Spins: INSTANT DREAMS is "a thoughtful, good-looking film that should have many more stops on the festival circuit."MORE +
Slug Magazine: "Instant Dreams, director Willem Baptist’s documentary ode to the Polaroid, is as enchanting and magical as its subject."MORE +
Variety: Instant Dreams at Slamdance 2018MORE +
Polaroid Magazine: INSTANT DREAMS is a "cinematic journey"MORE +
F Stoppers: INSTANT DREAMS explore the magic of this defunct format, the pioneer of instant imagery, and documents the search for the lost chemical formula. MORE +
Park Record: Instant Dreams on Slamdance 2018 slateMORE +
PETA PIXEL: INSTANT DREAMS Covers the Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of PolaroidMORE +

© 2017 CARGO FILM & RELEASING