Main Slate
I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming
Isabelle Stever
North American Premiere
A timely and tender account of internal and external transformations, German filmmaker Isabelle Stever’s striking drama centers on a young queer couple navigating unprecedented waters in Ukraine during the height of the Russia invasion.
- Runtime
- 100 min
- Country
- Germany/
Ukraine - Language
- Ukrainian
- Year
- 2026
- More information
- Official film page
Screenings
The personal and the political collide in German filmmaker Isabelle Stever’s striking queer drama set in Ukraine during the Russia invasion. I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming centers on a young couple navigating unprecedented waters in their newly redefined relationship: Olya (Tania Myronyshena) has always identified as a lesbian and is now cohabitating with her boyfriend Oleh (Markus Bright), who has recently transitioned gender. As they struggle with the challenge of their own identity shifts, the war intensifies, and their attempt to evacuate Kyiv is complicated by their country’s strict passport policies and systemic transphobia. Based on true events experienced within Stever and Ukrainian screenwriter Anna Melikova’s circle of friends, the film is a delicately rendered, timely, and tender account of internal and external transformations, and how society demarcates boundaries of masculine and feminine.
Travel support generously provided by the German Film Office.
The personal and the political collide in German filmmaker Isabelle Stever’s striking queer drama set in Ukraine during the Russia invasion. I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming centers on a young couple navigating unprecedented waters in their newly redefined relationship: Olya (Tania Myronyshena) has always identified as a lesbian and is now cohabitating with her boyfriend Oleh (Markus Bright), who has recently transitioned gender. As they struggle with the challenge of their own identity shifts, the war intensifies, and their attempt to evacuate Kyiv is complicated by their country’s strict passport policies and systemic transphobia. Based on true events experienced within Stever and Ukrainian screenwriter Anna Melikova’s circle of friends, the film is a delicately rendered, timely, and tender account of internal and external transformations, and how society demarcates boundaries of masculine and feminine.
Travel support generously provided by the German Film Office.