"City of Dreams" is 52 minutes of magic.
Through the eyes and souls of buildings, a living history is conveyed via the architecture of the city of Asmara.
Buildings become storytellers; they are transformed into statuesque, motionless testimonies of colonialist histories.
A haunting musical score accompanies these treasures that reveal the pain and passion of previous occupiers of this precious land.
This is a fresh genre of documentary making.
Here, the children of the Diaspora turned film-makers - Ruby Ofori and Edward Scott - fuse the technical know-how of their world with the spiritual knowledge of their ancestral home and create fresh perspectives and unlock crucial but untold tales of the cities of Africa, beginning with Asmara.

Directed by: Ruby Ofori & Edward Scott
Duration: 52' | USA: 2005

Ruby Ofori and Edward Scott about their film:
In "City of Dreams" architect Naigzy Gebremedhin takes the audience on a historical and architectural tour of his beloved city Asmara.
Inspired by Mussolini's dream of recreating the Roman Empire in Africa, Asmara is the site of some 400 or so architecturally significant buildings which were designed by Italian architects of the 1930s.
Asmara may now become a victim of the decaying effects of poverty and time.
"City of Dreams" explores the ambiguities of the city's architectural legacy which, though treasured by her African inhabitants, also hold bitter memories of racial segregation.

Executive Producer, Producer: Ruby Ofori, Edward Scott
Script, Research: Ruby Ofori
Camera, Edit: Edward Scott
Graphics: Atlantic Video Washington D.C.
Narration: Naigzy Gebremedhin


Distribution
World sales
Cinema Guild
130 Madison Avenue
New York, NY
10016-7038, USA
Tel: +1 212 6856242
Fax: +1 2126854717
E-mail: info@cinemaguild.com


Festival - Screenings
2006 The Austrialian International Documentary Conference (DoCumart Videotheque), Melbourne, Australia.
2005 IDFA Docs for Sale, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Rosebud Film Festival