In his film Sleep Dealer, Alex Rivera imagined a dystopian future in which robots have assumed the jobs in such American industries as construction, farming, and home security. The catch was the robots were being controlled by workers on the other side of a sealed U.S.-Mexican border.
The film was released in 2008, prior to robotics, remote work, and international job outsourcing had become commonplace, and years before President Donald Trump’s idea of building a wall.
Cal State LA’s EagleCon 2025 honored the visionary filmmaker with the Prism Award, which is presented to creators who have made outstanding contributions to diversity in speculative genres across media.
“The importance of Alex’s work is undeniable,” said College of Arts and Letters Dean Stephen Trzaskoma as he presented Rivera with the award. “It is incredibly relevant to our current moment in its themes—not only in migration, but of technology, of economies, of injustices. It’s an incredibly powerful testament to imagination. And, of course, EagleCon is all about imagination.”
The annual convention, celebrates Latina(o) futurism, Afrofuturism, and speculative visions of fighting for a better world. The two-day event, co-sponsored by the Art Directors Guild, IATSE Local 800, presented hands-on workshops, panels of industry professionals, and student presentations on Sept. 23 and 24 at the University-Student Union.
“It’s really these types of spaces that have kept Sleep Dealer alive,” Rivera said. “The idea came to me in 1997—a long time ago. It was filmed in 2006 and released in 2008. The film bounced off the surface of the culture. It didn’t have a big opening weekend, it didn’t have a successful commercial run, but over the years—and now decades—it’s actually finding an audience and a place in culture, thanks to spaces like this.”
The writer-producer-director’s filmography also includes the feature film The Infiltrators (2019) and the short films Papapapa (1995), Why Cybraceros? (1997), The Borders Trilogy (2002), and The Sixth Section (2003).
“The discussions about Chicano and Latino futurism didn’t emerge until he made his Chicano cyberpunk film,” said Patrick Sharp, professor of liberal studies and event organizer. “He’s a foundational artist who gave us a new language that we could wrap our heads around.”
EagleCon 2025’s theme, “Resistance Is Not Futile,” has long fueled the speculative genre’s most popular franchises, including Star Trek and Star Wars.
