After making its way through some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals, Dreams in Nightmares, the second feature from filmmaker Shatara Michelle Ford, is coming to theaters this summer. Lunette Films will oversee the release, opening the film in New York and Los Angeles before expanding it nationally.
The story begins with Z (Deneé Benton), a writer who has just lost her job. Adrift and looking for grounding, she reconnects with her closest friends Tasha and Lauren. But what starts as a reunion quickly becomes something more pressing. The group realizes that a fourth friend, Kel, has gone completely off the grid. The three women pile into a car and head across the American Midwest to find her. What unfolds over the course of that drive is by turns tense, funny, tender and surreal, a portrait of Black queer friendship tested by distance, disagreement and a country that does not always make space for them.
The ensemble cast also includes Sasha Compère, Charlie Barnett, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mars Storm Rucker, Dezi Bing, Molly Bernard, Alfie Fuller, Malek Mouzon, Joss Barton, Regina Taylor, and Robert Wisdom.
Dreams in Nightmares first premiered at the BlackStar Film Festival in August 2024, followed by a screening at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2025. The film has since traveled to the British Film Institute, NewFest, Frameline, the Taipei Film Festival, and the Champs-Élysées Film Festival in Paris, where it earned a Critic’s Prize.
Lunette founder Malkah Manouel cited the film’s themes of connection and community as central to the decision to acquire it, emphasizing that the theatrical setting deepens the shared experience those themes invite. Ford, whose debut feature was the 2019 thriller Test Pattern, praised the distributor’s collaborative approach, calling the filmmaker-distributor relationship rare in today’s independent film landscape. Producers Pin-Chun Liu and Naïma Abed echoed that sentiment, highlighting Lunette’s intentional, momentum-building release strategy.
The film was produced by Ford, Pin-Chun Liu of 120E Films, Naïma Abed of Paradise City, Josh Peters and Robina Riccitiello of Spark Features, Ben Stillman of Birchall Entertainment, Ana Leocha of Tango, Adam Wyatt Tate, Chris Quintos-Cathcart, and Tyler Bagley. Executive producers include Lia Buman, Tim Headington, Jacqueline W. Liu, Annie Yang, Yu-Hao Su, Emily Georges, and Liska Ostojic.