The Truth Behind the (False?) Promise of Las Vegas
Las Vegas is at the center of a population boom that has transformed the American desert over the last three decades. Starting May 3 the New York Times is running series of in depth articles about this boomtown. "AMERICAN DREAMERS: The Lure of Las Vegas" examines what a few typical dreamers have found in this place of unmatched opportunity and extreme dysfunction: from portraits of families living in budget motels far from The Strip, to the challenges teachers face in the fastest growing school district in the country and beyond, to the problems parents confront in trying to keep their children safe, and onward.

Following several full-time residents of Las Vegas over a two-year period, the documentary film DREAMLAND shows the cityscape beyond the grandiose casino-hotels on the strip. It is a world of dingy gambling halls and countless gambling arcades that survive throughout Las Vegas. Among the locals that patronize and work in these casinos, many struggle daily with compulsion and self-impoverishment while walking the tenuous line between dreams and denial.