The Grand Illusion

With their sophomore feature, Shatara Michelle Ford (TEST PATTERN) puts their singular stamp on the American road movie. After an unceremonious layoff, Z (Denée Benton, “The Gilded Age”) embarks on a trip across the Midwestern United States in search of a friend that has seemingly disappeared off the grid. Travelling with her two closest friends, these three queer black femmes find their priorities tested as shapeshifting threats in each city expose (inter)personal and ideological fractures.

Tender and expansive, DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES is an ode to chosen family and the radical act of claiming space to dream – and exist – beyond the systems of an increasingly fraught country.

Critic’s Pick! “A nifty new spin on the American road trip movie, one that functions both as an intimate exploration of identity and a rallying cry for a new kind of world.” Kate Erbland, IndieWire

“A special type of indie film teaches you how to see it as you watch it — not as an instructor might a student, but as an ally would a new acquaintance. Shatara Michelle Ford’s sophomore feature, Dreams in Nightmares, about a road trip, a friendship and a Black queer landscape anchored by care, has that quietly confident appeal, like being invited into something intimate, then let free when your curiosity is at its zenith.” Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times