Gianpaolo Lupori Explores Shanghai Through "Dreams"

Roving Dreams, a short documentary film by Italian Director Gianpaolo Lupori and Producer Maxine Zhang will premier as part of a showcase of shorts portraying the spirit of Shanghai.The Shanghai Portrait ProjectThurs, 11 Nov. 2010, 19:00-22:00hLola Club, 570 Yongjia Rd, building 4, room 413, Shanghai‘Roving Dreams’ is a mini-documentary made as part of the ten-piece series, idiosyncratically directed by as many independent filmmakers, portraying remarkable individuals in Shanghai. As possible pilot for a future feature-length endeavor, the documentary spends a night wandering the convoluted web of elevated highways, streets and alleys that are urban Shanghai by taxi hopping to experience the city as perceived by its driver.

Having seen the world fly past him all his life as he sits still, a Taxi driver is the essence of street wisdom. As he drives sleeplessly though the night, he embodies the city’s paradoxical nature of being both a city of dreams and one that never sleeps - A somewhat permanent nocturnal daydream.Yet while he himself is deprived of sleep, he is Charon to the millions of dreams that bustle around the city. He has seen dreams come true, be trampled underfoot, vanish, be forgotten or turn to nightmares in the eyes of his passengers. Who hasn’t found himself inside a Taxi bracing himself before a potentially life-changing meeting, felt ecstatic after a successful encounter, shattered after a defeat or inebriated after a night of excess?

Any Taxi Driver has seen that and more through his rearview mirror in the eyes of his passengers. While he himself may have no time to dream, he knows more about dreams than arguably anyone in the city. While most of the city sleeps, the documentary hopes to get a pulse on its dreams through the eyes of its subject. Yet rather than his own dreams, the driver will be asked to talk about the dreams of his passengers.

Lazy Susan Productions - The Shanghai Portrait ProjectThe Shanghai Portrait Project is a series of 3-4 minute documentaries that together make up a mosaic of local life. This project brings together the creative scene in Shanghai and showcases the talents of some of its brilliant directors. We have 10 directors committed to the project so far. Each director chooses their own subject, this could be a person, group or place in Shanghai that represents "My Shanghai."