Cineblend Café: The American Dream and Other Fairytales

Film screening followed by interview with director Abigail Disney. On 13 September 2023
In this film, Abigail Disney looks at America’s dysfunctional and unequal economy and asks why the American Dream has worked for the wealthy, yet is a nightmare for people born with less. Using her family’s story, Disney explores how this systemic injustice took hold and imagines a way toward a more equitable future.

In this feature length, personal essay documentary,

The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales
filmmaker and philanthropist Abigail Disney grapples with America’s profound inequality crisis. The story begins in 2018, after Abigail encounters workers at the company that bears her name struggling
to put food on the table. Could she, a descendent, with no role in the multinational conglomerate, use her famous last name to help pressure Disney and other American corporations to treat low
wage workers more humanely? Believing her conservative grandfather, Roy Disney, (Walt’s brother and company co
-founder) would never have tolerated employee hunger at “The Happiest Place On Earth”, Abigail reexamines the s
tory of modern American capitalism from the middle of the last century, when wealth was shared more equitably, to today, when CEO’s earn upwards of 800 times more than their average employees. What happened? What Abigail learns about racism, corporate power and the American Dream, is eye opening, unexpected, and inspiring in that it begins to imagine a path to a
fairer future for everyone.

Filmed over a two year period, The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales expertly weaves together Abigail’s family story and the stories of Disneyland workers with commentary from historians, authors, and academics. The film artfully employs archive, animation, and never before seen Disney family movies. From the boardroom to the union hall, the film will no doubt jump start urgently needed conversations, about how to make American capitalism work for everyone.

As Abigail concludes ”It won’t be easy, but with imagination and courage it can be changed.”