Instant Dreams

Instant Dreams

#An extraordinary Polaroid trip.


(7.1 from 14 users)

1h 31m 2017 HD

There could hardly be a more telling contrast between the analog and digital eras than the beautifully blurry memories captured in a Polaroid picture and the thousands of pin-sharp photos on an iPhone. In this ambitious visual essay, Willem Baptist explores the visionary genius of Edwin H. Land, the inventor of the Polaroid camera. Even today, all sorts of people are keeping his instant dream alive. Former Polaroid employee Stephen Herchen moved from the United States to Europe to work in a laboratory developing the 2.0 version of Polaroid. Christopher Bonanos, the author of Instant: The Story of Polaroid, tells us, "When I heard Polaroid would stop making film, it felt like a close friend had died." Artist Stefanie Schneider, who is working with the last of her stock of Polaroid film, is using the blurring that occurs with expired film as an additional aesthetic layer in her photographic work.


Related Movies

  • 2014
    Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

    Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

    Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

    6.22014HD

    The film explores the role of photography, since its rudimentary beginnings in the 1840s, in shaping the identity, aspirations, and social emergence...

    Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People
  • 2021
    Moments Like This Never Last

    Moments Like This Never Last

    Moments Like This Never Last

    6.72021HD

    Dash Snow rejected a life of privilege to make his own way as an artist on the streets of downtown New York City in the late 1990s. Developing from a...

    Moments Like This Never Last
  • 2008
    Standard Operating Procedure

    Standard Operating Procedure

    Standard Operating Procedure

    6.82008HD

    Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.

    Standard Operating Procedure
  • 1983
    Discovering Electronic Music: Revised

    Discovering Electronic Music: Revised

    Discovering Electronic Music: Revised

    21983HD

    A short educational documentary on early electronic composition and synthesizers.

    Discovering Electronic Music: Revised
  • 2017
    Shot in the Dark

    Shot in the Dark

    Shot in the Dark

    72017HD

    Shot in the Dark is a documentary on three blind photographers: Pete Eckert, Sonia Soberats and Bruce Hall. A documentary on three blind people who...

    Shot in the Dark
  • 1999
    Moment of Impact: Stories of the Pulitzer Prize Photographs

    Moment of Impact: Stories of the Pulitzer Prize Photographs

    Moment of Impact: Stories of the Pulitzer Prize Photographs

    01999HD

    Moment of Impact: Stories of the Pulitzer Prize Photographs, hosted by Sam Waterston, tells the compelling stories behind some of the world's most...

    Moment of Impact: Stories of the Pulitzer Prize Photographs
  • 2019
    Martha: A Picture Story

    Martha: A Picture Story

    Martha: A Picture Story

    92019HD

    In 1970s New York, photographer Martha Cooper captured some of the first images of graffiti at a time when the city had declared war on it. Decades...

    Martha: A Picture Story
  • 2024
    Lui Ho Yin

    Lui Ho Yin

    Lui Ho Yin

    02024HD

    An intimate portrait into Tony, Lui Ho Yin, a 32 year-old skater, chef, photographer and model.

    Lui Ho Yin
  • 2019
    Luisita Photo Studio

    Luisita Photo Studio

    Luisita Photo Studio

    72019HD

    The celebrities who visited Luisita Escarria's photo studio in Buenos Aires for decades are countless. Sol, a young photographer, discovers there...

    Luisita Photo Studio
  • 1973
    The Decisive Moment

    The Decisive Moment

    The Decisive Moment

    6.31973HD

    Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment is an 18-minute film produced in 1973 by Scholastic Magazines, Inc. and the International Center of...

    The Decisive Moment
  • 1963
    Dans le vent

    Dans le vent

    Dans le vent

    61963HD

    Short subject on how fashion is created-- not by the great couturiers, but on the street.

    Dans le vent
  • 2019
    The Birders

    The Birders

    The Birders

    102019HD

    The film highlights legendary Colombian birdwatching guide Diego Calderon-Franco and National Geographic photographer/videographer Keith Ladzinski as...

    The Birders