Starring: Denée Benton, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sasha Compère, Mars Storm Rucker, Dezi Bing, Charlie Barnett

The Future of Film is Female presents special screenings of Shatara Michelle Ford’s sophomore feature Dreams in Nightmares, featuring a filmmaker Q&A on August 26 and introductions on August 29 and 30. To make an additional $10 donation to The Ali Forney Center, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

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.