about our film
Potato Dreams of America is a new feature film from the award-winning writer/director Wes Hurley. The unlikely autobiographical fantasia uses magical realism and plenty of humor to tell Hurley's life story through the whimsical filter of childhood memory and wonder. The film is darkly comic ode to mothers, immigrants and dreamers everywhere.
Wes Hurley first shared parts of his story in the much circulated article for the Huffington Post called Growing Up Gay In Russia.
After receiving a grant from 4Culture, Hurley made two short pieces about his Russian gay immigrant experience. The short doc "Little Potato" went on to screen at over 200 festivals worldwide and winning 27 awards from around the globe including the Oscar-qualifying Jury Prize for SXSW. It's companion piece - a VR experience "Potato Dreams" - premiered at AFI Festival and has been called "the most innovative cinematic VR" by several industry leaders.
In 2019, Hurley received the prestigious Creative Capital Award which helped jumpstart Potato Dreams of America, written and conceived 7 years earlier. Using that grant and additional private investments, Hurley, producer Mischa Jakupcak and AD/EP Sarah Crowe started pre-production in the spring of 2019. The second half of the film (taking place in America) was shot first - on locations in Seattle in September of 2019. The first half of the film (taking place in Soviet and post-Soviet Vladivostok, Russia) was shot in early 2020. Kristen Bonnalie, the film Production Designer, and her talented team, have transformed a former Staples store into a sound-stage full of ingenious Russian/Soviet sets.
