# I Have Electric Dreams

I Have Electric Dreams (Spanish: Tengo sueños eléctricos) is a 2022 coming-of-age drama film directed by Valentina Maurel, starring Reinaldo Amien Gutiérrez, Daniela Marín Navarro, Vivian Rodriguez, Adriana Castro García and Jose Pablo Segreda Johanning. The film produced by Gregoire Debailly and Benoit Roland is a co-production of Costa Rica, Belgium and France. It revolves around a young girl Eva, who lives with her mother, her little sister and their cat. The film captures the thin line between love and hate, in a world where aggression and rage intertwined with the vertigo of female sexual awakening. It premiered at the 75th Locarno Film Festival on 8 August 2022, where it won the Pardo for Best Direction, Pardo for Best Actress and Pardo for Best Actor.
It was selected as the Costa Rican entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

## Cast

* Reinaldo Amien Gutiérrez as Martín
* Daniela Marín Navarro as Eva
* Vivian Rodriguez as Anca
* Adriana Castro García as Sol
* Sarah Lefèvre
* José Pablo Segreda Johanning

## Release

It premiered at the 75th Locarno Film Festival on 8 August 2022, where it won the Pardo for Best Direction, Pardo for Best Actress and Pardo for Best Actor. In September 2022, It made to 'Latin Horizons (Horizontes Latinos)' section of 70th San Sebastián International Film Festival, where it won Horizontes Award. It also made it to 'World Cinema' section of 27th Busan International Film Festival and was screened on 6 October 2022. In November 2022, it was featured in 'International Competition' section of 53rd International Film Festival of India, where it won Golden Peacock for Best Film and Best Actress Award. In December it was invited to the 28th Kolkata International Film Festival and was screened on 17 December 2022. It was also invited to the 27th Lima Film Festival in the Competition fiction section, where it was screened on 11 August 2023.

## Reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes website, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10.
Guy Lodge of Variety wrote "an auspicious debut feature from Costa Rican writer-director Valentina Maurel". It has been reviewed by Neil Young of Screen Daily, who wrote of "the tough, sensual, spiky feature-length debut by Costa Rican writer-director Valentina Maurel".

## Sequel

In November 2022, Maurel announced that she was writing a sequel, which would focus on the mother-daughter relationship between Eva and Anca. She noted that the follow-up would include "complex characters and maybe a little bit of a raw take on relationships between women."

## Accolades

| Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| Locarno Film Festival | 13 August 2022 | Golden Leopard | Valentina Maurel | Nominated |
| Locarno Film Festival | 13 August 2022 | Best Direction Award | Valentina Maurel | Won |
| Locarno Film Festival | 13 August 2022 | Best Actor Award | Reinaldo Amien Gutiérrez | Won |
| Locarno Film Festival | 13 August 2022 | Best Actress Award | Daniela Marín Navarro | Won |
| Sarajevo Film Festival | 19 August 2022 | Special Award for the Promotion of Gender Equality | I Have Electric Dreams | Nominated |
| San Sebastián International Film Festival | 24 September 2022 | Horizontes Award | I Have Electric Dreams | Won |
| Film Fest Ghent | 22 October 2022 | Best Film | I Have Electric Dreams | Nominated |
| Mar del Plata International Film Festival | 13 November 2022 | Best Latin-American Film | I Have Electric Dreams | Nominated |
| Mar del Plata International Film Festival | 13 November 2022 | FIPRESCI Prize | I Have Electric Dreams | Won |
| Mar del Plata International Film Festival | 13 November 2022 | FEISAL Award | I Have Electric Dreams | Won |
| International Film Festival of India | 28 November 2022 | Golden Peacock (Best Film) | I Have Electric Dreams | Won |
| International Film Festival of India | 28 November 2022 | IFFI Best Actor Award (Female) | Daniela Marín Navarro | Won |
| Palm Springs International Film Festival | 16 January 2023 | Best Ibero-American Film | I Have Electric Dreams | Nominated |
| Cleveland International Film Festival | 1 April 2023 | New Direction Award | I Have Electric Dreams | Nominated |
| Guadalajara International Film Festival | 9 June 2023 | Iberoamerican Competition – Best Film | I Have Electric Dreams | Won |
| Lima Film Festival | 18 August 2023 | Best Film | I Have Electric Dreams | Nominated |
| Lima Film Festival | 18 August 2023 | Best Debut | I Have Electric Dreams | Won |
| Lima Film Festival | 18 August 2023 | ECRAN Award for Best Direction of Debut or Second Feature Film in the Fiction Competition | Valentina Maurel | Won |
| Lima Film Festival | 18 August 2023 | NUNA Award for Best Latin American Female Director in Competition | Valentina Maurel | Won |
| Magritte Award | 9 March 2024 | Best Editing | Bertrand Conard | Nominated |
| Platino Awards | 20 April 2024 | Best First Feature Film | I Have Electric Dreams | Pending |