Premieres Monday, Aug. 3, 2026 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV + Encore Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 8 p.m. on KPBS 2 (Not available on KPBS+)
Set in a Silicon Valley “hacker house,” "The Dreamers and I" explores how innovative and disruptive ideas are incubated, nurtured and all too often shattered.
The film follows three immigrant entrepreneurs trying to make their high-tech dreams come true: Carlos de la Lama-Noriega (Madrid), who started a hacker house that offers an affordable, welcoming live/work community to migrants like material scientist Habibe Turfan (Istanbul) and A.I. creator Lucas González (Seville).
Inspired by how similar the battle to start a business and produce a documentary can be, filmmaker Kenji Yamamoto becomes the story’s fourth character, joining Carlos, Habibe and Lucas in their Sisyphean struggles of self-doubt, financial ruin and endangered marriages.
At first, Kenji thought his characters’ failures or successes would define the film but discovered that it is about something deeper: what happens when dreams and reality collide.
Credits: Director/Producer/Cinematographer/Editor: Kenji, Yamamoto. Producer/Writer: Nancy Kelly. Distributed by American Public Television
