Dreams in Nightmares

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Dreams in Nightmares

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2h 8m

Drama

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16 Reviews

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

With their second film, Shatara Michelle Ford (Test Pattern) puts their singular stamp on the American road movie. Dreams in Nightmares, which stars Denée Benton (The Gilded Age) and Jasmin Savoy Brown (Yellowjackets, Scream 7) follows a group of queer friends in their mid-30s navigating love, identity, and belonging across America. Anchored in themes of chosen family and self-discovery, the film blends humor and emotional depth against the backdrop of a journey through the Midwest and beyond. Dreams in Nightmares is an expansive and tender ode to the chosen family and to the radical act of claiming space to dream--and to exist--in an increasingly fraught country.

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Justin Chang

NPR

9h

On paper, that might sound too obvious -- the bohemian artistes versus the high-strung corporate sellout. But the actors, especially Compère as Tasha, are too vivid to be reduced to mere types.

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Richard Brody

The New Yorker

13h

Ford’s collaborative methods give rise to performances of an extraordinary immediacy, a sense of commitment to the characters’ quests for sexual freedom, freedom from fear.

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Brian Tallerico

RogerEbert.com

17h

3/4

[It] s a deceptively complex piece of work, and a strikingly rewarding one.

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Steve Erickson

Gay City News

13h

“Dreams in Nightmares” values their small and large pleasures. It makes an epiphany out of eating a pastry. This is a chosen family vacation.

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Andie Ngeleka

In Review Online

18h

Michelle Ford masterfully stretches the medium to perfectly cover a narratively uneventful road film with the thickness of a Black woman’s inability to escape history.

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Sean Boelman

FandomWire

4d

9/10

If Test Pattern heralded the arrival of a new talent, Dreams in Nightmares cements Shatara Michelle Ford as one of the most important voices in this generation’s revolution in queer filmmaking.

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Shatara Michelle Ford

Director

Denée Benton

Actor

Mars Rucker

Actor

Dezi Bing

Lauren

Sasha Compère

Tasha

Charlie Barnett

Reece

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Synopsis

With their second film, Shatara Michelle Ford (Test Pattern) puts their singular stamp on the American road movie. Dreams in Nightmares, which stars Denée Benton (The Gilded Age) and Jasmin Savoy Brown (Yellowjackets, Scream 7) follows a group of queer friends in their mid-30s navigating love, identity, and belonging across America. Anchored in themes of chosen family and self-discovery, the film blends humor and emotional depth against the backdrop of a journey through the Midwest and beyond. Dreams in Nightmares is an expansive and tender ode to the chosen family and to the radical act of claiming space to dream--and to exist--in an increasingly fraught country.

Director: Shatara Michelle Ford
Producer: Pin-Chun Liu, Shatara Michelle Ford, Naima Abed, Adam Wyatt Tate, Josh Peters, Robina Riccitiello, Ben Stillman, Ana Leocha, Tyler Bagley, Chris Quintos Cathcart
Screenwriter: Shatara Michelle Ford
Distributor: Lunette Films
Production Co: 120E Films, It Was Written, Spark Features, Paradise City
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 21, 2026, Limited
Runtime: 2h 8m

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