Jeremy Rocklin started making this film with a good friend of his from Burkina Faso, Abdel Kader Ouedrao. Their idea originally was to make a film about West Africans living in New York to take back to Ouagadougou for FESPACO. They wanted to show people in Africa what living in New York was really like, and to bring up some of the myths and misconceptions, as well as to show some of the success stories.

Dollars and Dreams focuses on the pursuits and challenges of numerous West African immigrants as they confront the idea of the American dream and the reality of the New York City experience. Rocklin captures the everyday successes and triumphs of West African immigrants and interviews scholars, authors, and community leaders. “Various West African communities in New York have really entered into its great tradition of immigration” says Rocklin, “It is obviously very difficult to talk about “West Africans” as a group, but we tried to touch upon as many different realities as we could.”

Most all immigrants come to the United States with the thought that streets are made of gold and there are no problems in the U.S. Africans aren’t the only ones. They soon learn that what they heard and saw back home about America is not necessarily true. The streets aren’t clean, people aren’t always polite, jobs aren’t easy to find, and they are not always welcomed with open arms.

Men are suddenly doing jobs they never did back home because their wives or maids did it. They quickly get a 101 education on washing dishes or cleaning toilets as a way to make a living. Dreams of college and high paying jobs quickly go out of the window when the menial jobs they can get don’t pay enough. Even though the work is humiliating, they soon realize that the paycheck here once converted is still more money than they would make if they went home. Going home empty handed is not an option.

There has been an entrepreneur boom in recent years. Parts of Harlem may not look like Chinatown yet but ‘Africatown’ is not too far from being a reality. The francophone community are largely responsible for this. Churches, restaurants, grocery stores and hair braiding shops now line Harlem streets.

The saddest part of this documentary was hearing how Police blatantly told Africans that they would have to take care of themselves if they wanted to live in Harlem. At one point, in order to be initiated into a gang, potential members had to kill two or three people. African cab drivers were the easy targets because shooters knew that the police wouldn’t do much investigation on immigrants with no family and papers.

The importance of community is evident throughout the documentary. The highlight of this documentary for me, although only two minutes long was seeing teenage sisters Aminata and Nassou Camara embrace their African pride after not fitting in. They sum it all up well when the say, “We are African and we are here. If you have a problem then too bad, deal with it!”

The film first showed at FESPACO in 2007. Since then it has showed in New York City at the African Diaspora Film Festival, and at the 92nd Street Y for their “Africa: Conversations with a Continent” series. When the new building for the Museum for African Art is finished being built in the next year, the film will be part of an exhibit on African immigration there.

For more information and to watch the trailer, visit the film’s website.