Dreams In Nightmares, Shatara Michelle Ford’s follow-up to their acclaimed debut Test Pattern, to world premiere Aug 1 as the opening night selection.
The film stars Tony-nominated Deneé Benton (The Gilded Age), Sasha Compere (Single Drunk Female), Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll), Jasmin Savoy Brown (Yellow Jackets, Scream), Mars Storm Rucker (A Strange Loop), and Dezi Bing (Wig Out!).
BlackStar is thrilled to announce that Dreams In Nightmares, the sophomore feature from acclaimed filmmaker Shatara Michelle Ford, will have its world premiere as the Opening Night film at its annual film festival on August 1st in Philadelphia. The film is the follow-up to Ford’s debut feature Test Pattern, which also premiered to great acclaim at BlackStar Film Festival in 2019 and went on to be nominated for three Gotham Awards, including Best Picture, and three Independent Spirit Awards, including Best First Feature.
“It’s hard to imagine a more exciting film for the opening night of the 2024 festival,” said festival director Nehad Khader. “Imbued with a sense of radical possibility—Dreams in Nightmares is the kind of genre-defying work that our audience has long embraced, reflecting a collective vision of a more liberatory world.”
In Dreams In Nightmares, Ford puts their singular cinematic stamp on the American road movie. The film follows three Black queer femmes in their mid 30s on a road trip across the Midwestern United States in search of their friend who has seemingly disappeared off the grid.
“Five years after BlackStar world premiered my first film Test Pattern, catapulting my career and the careers of countless others on my team; it only felt fitting to return to the festival that embraced my work from the beginning,” said Ford. “Especially since Dreams In Nightmares was made most immediately for the BlackStar audience. The fact that Philadelphia is also where I reside, only takes the cake as I’m excited to share my very tender film with my community and celebrate this momentous achievement with my loved ones.”
The announcement of Ford’s film to open BlackStar Film Festival 2024 rounds out the festival’s already impressive lineup which features 96 films and 15 other world premieres. The full programming schedule and individual tickets will be released in July.
This year’s films as a whole engage with self-discovery, climate justice, immigrant rights, decolonization and queer liberation. Festival passes are on sale here.