Why This Producer Creates Movies About the ‘Unthinkable’
By Movieguide® Contributor
CITY OF DREAMS producer Sean Wolfington wants his latest project to warn and inspire his audiences.
The movie is “an inspiring story about a boy’s courageous battle to free himself and others from the brutal grasp of slavery,” a synopsis of the film reads. “CITY OF DREAMS chronicles the journey of Jesús, a young Mexican boy whose dreams of becoming a soccer star are shattered when he’s kidnapped, trafficked across the border, and sold into slavery to a sweatshop in downtown Los Angeles.”
“The film is inspired by a true story,” Wolfington told Movieguide® in a recent interview. “It is about a little Mexican boy who was from Pua, Mexico, and he has a dream to be a soccer star. He’s recruited by a soccer recruiter who promises him and his family that if he goes to Los Angeles he can play on a club team that eventually will develop him to be a professional soccer star.”
Unfortunately, the soccer recruiter is actually part of a child trafficking organization and sells the boy to a “sweat shop in downtown Los Angeles.”
While Jesús and the other children face the unimaginable, he decides to fight back.
“The good news about this particular story is this is one of those children who had the courage to fight back, and this is an intense, powerful but inspirational heroic thriller about what he does to battle his captors in an effort to liberate himself and the other children who are held,” Wolfington explained.
Wolfington’s record speaks for itself when it comes to his commitment to using his movies to promote change. He also produced the 2023 summer hit SOUND OF FREEDOM.
“In both cases, the mission is the driver to raise awareness about these unthinkable problems that are happening not only abroad — which SOUND OF FREEDOM highlighted well — but also right here in our backyard, which is what CITY OF DREAMS shows,” he said.
CITY OF DREAMS is now available in theaters across the nation.
Part of Movieguide®’s review reads:
CITY OF DREAMS is a harrowing drama about underground slave labor in the United States. A mute teenage Mexican boy named Jesús is trafficked across the border into Los Angeles. He thinks he’s going to attend a soccer camp for the local professional soccer team. However, he’s dropped off at a large rundown house where illegal immigrants, including young teenage children, are put to work in a sweatshop. Jesús doesn’t know anything about sewing, and he’s whipped. When another co-worker is severely beaten, he realizes the only way to save himself is to fight back, at the risk of his life.
CITY OF DREAMS features a terrific performance by Ari Lopez as the teenage boy, Jesús. There’s an exciting chase sequence, but another climactic, dramatic moment is diluted by some chaotic, artsy flourishes. CITY OF DREAMS makes an urgent plea for people to rise up against human trafficking and slave labor in America and elsewhere. However, the movie has too many gratuitous “f” words, and the beatings are disturbing. CITY OF DREAMS also has brief references to sex trafficking. MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.
Check out the rest of Movieguide®’s interview with Wolfington here:
