Land of Dreams

Ambarien Alqadar

2025 / 40 minutes
India, United States
Punjabi, Hindi, English with English Subtitles

Best Short Film — Winner

Filmed over a decade between Delhi and Philadelphia, Land of Dreams is an intimate portrait of Virender Rana, a taxi driver from India, pursuing his dream of telling his story in America. As he turns the camera on his own life to create a Bollywood-style film, the film follows his journey of coming to America, finding joy as part of a larger community of taxi drivers, and laying down roots as an immigrant. When Virender joins the elite Uber Black fleet, hoping his dreams will finally come true, he confronts the challenges of immigrant life in post-9/11 America and the precarities of the gig economy. Land of Dreams is ultimately a letter of solidarity and hope to anyone who has searched for a home and a place for their dreams.