(USA/2007/Directed by Steven Sebring)

Forty years ago Patti Smith left her family and New Jersey home on a bus headed for New York City. Obsessed with late 19th century symbolist poets Arthur Rimbaud and William Blake, and ignited by late 20th century beat and counter-culture, she burned with a dream of finding her own muse. Nearly twelve years in the making, Steven Sebring's brilliant film captures the artist's passionate search through the decades, a trajectory that encompassed critical acclaim for her music, obscurity as a mother and housewife living in suburban Detroit and her reemergence as a political activist illuminated by memories of loss and hope for the future. Shot on black and white 16mm film as a collaboration between the director and his subject, Dream of Life is an unforgettable portrait of a legendary artist as everywoman.

"Beautiful and intermittently haunting. Dream of Life could be called a meditation on aging and mortality, an intimate study of a genuinely remarkable person." ‑Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com