I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming

War does not simply destroy homes; it can turn identity into a border. In Isabelle Stever’s I RARELY WAKE UP DREAMING, the invasion of Ukraine crashes over Olya and Oleh, a young queer couple grappling with Oleh’s transition. When they attempt to flee to Germany, Oleh’s identity becomes an outrageous bureaucratic paradox. Stever and Ukrainian writer Anna Melikova explore the war through this personal conflict, refusing easy moral judgments and leaving its contradictions painfully unresolved. Rather than foregrounding combat, the film traces how violence seeps into gestures, language and relationships, exposing a system that questions Oleh’s identity and demands that he perform masculinity as proof of patriotic duty. Volodymyr Usyk’s precise, often obstructed framings place bodies behind glass, mirrors and doorways, turning physical distance into emotional fracture, while the abrasive soundscape gives daily life an unsettling intensity. Tania Myronyshena and Markus Bright bring an unforced, fragile intimacy to the roles of the central couple, their striking resemblance only reinforcing their closeness. I RARELY WAKE UP DREAMING leaves behind a disturbing insight: war does not merely decide who may leave. It decides which self survives. (Maria Giovanna Vagenas)

In the presence of Isabelle Stever and Anna Melikova (screenplay).
The conversation on the 31st of October will be sign interpreted. Prior registration requested. More info here. 

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Isabelle Stever (selection): ERSTE EHE (2003), GISELA (2005), GLÜCKLICHE FÜGUNG (2010), DAS WETTER IN GESCHLOSSENEN RÄUMEN (2015), GRAND JETÉ (2022)