Set in a near future marked by airtight international borders, militarized corporate warriors, and an underground class of remote workers who plug their nervous systems into a global computer network, Sleep Dealer is the story of Memo Cruz, a young campesino who lives with his family in the small, dusty farm village of Santa Ana del Rio, Oaxaca. A private company has hijacked control of the area’s water supply and is selling it back to the village at outrageous prices, provoking the mobilization of aqua-terrorist cells. Memo dreams of leaving his small pueblo to find work in the hi-tech factories of the big cities in the north. Fascinated by techno-gadgetry, he learns how to build his own transmitter, which he uses to hack into the lives of others. One night, Memo stumbles across a transmission destined to pave the way to the city of the future, but in a way he could never have expected.

Rivera spoke with us about his interest in political theory, the hardships of creating visual effects on a restricted budget, and how the near future depicted in his film reflects an array of contemporary concerns about immigration, technology, war, and globalization.

Alex Rivera was born in 1973 to natives of Peru and New Jersey. He studied cinema and political science at Hampshire College, receiving his BA in 1995. Rivera’s Papapapá (1995) won a silver award at the New York Expo of Short Film and Video, and his 1997 short Why Cybraceros? screened at the Telluride Film Festival. A 1998 Rockefeller Media Fellow, Rivera developed Sleep Dealer, his first feature, at the 2000 Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab and the 2001 Directors Lab.