Film archive, 2026

I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming

Director Isabelle STEVER

2Festival entries

★Avg. rating

Love in Stever’s films is often precarious. While her earlier films placed middleaged women in such relationships, her new film puts a young queer couple to the test. Oleh undergoes a gender transition despite Olya’s objections, and the two begin living as a heterosexual couple. In 2022, as the war in Ukraine escalates and Oleh becomes subject to conscription, tensions between them intensify. Amid a situation in which terms like ‘gender identity disorder’ and ‘gender dysphoria’ collide head-on with the war unfolding before them, how can the couple make it through this crisis? Both the director and screenwriter have had similar experiences themselves, and the film was shot under difficult wartime conditions, with air-raid sirens sounding, lending it a profound sense of authenticity. Stever always ends her films by looking at characters who have arrived at a different place. The aching poignancy of the ending, reminiscent of her earlier film Grand Jeté, makes it difficult to regain one’s composure.

Stills5

I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming 1 — © Outplay Films / X-Filme Creative Pool

I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming 2 — © Outplay Films / X-Filme Creative Pool

I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming 3 — © Outplay Films / X-Filme Creative Pool

I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming 4 — © Outplay Films / X-Filme Creative Pool

I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming 5 — © Outplay Films / X-Filme Creative Pool

Film details

Director: Isabelle STEVER
Country/Region: Germany, Ukraine
Year: 2026
Length: 100min
Original language: German
Elsewhere: Letterboxd IMDb Wikidata TMDB Douban

Director

Isabelle STEVER

Isabelle Stever is a German director and screenwriter whose films premiered at the Berlinale, Toronto, Locarno and Busan. Her last two features were collaborations with her wife, Ukrainian scriptwriter and novelist Anna Melikova.

From Tokyo International Film Festival 2026, No. 39

Credits

Director: Isabelle STEVER
Producer: Uwe SCHOTT, Tom TYKWER
Co-producer: Natalia LIBET, Olha BREGMAN
Cast: Tania MYRONYSHENA, Markus BRIGHT, Iryna MAK, Viktor ZHDANOV
Screenplay: Anna MELIKOVA
Cinematography: Volodymyr USYK
Production design: Mirko RACHOR
Editing: Paul GROEBEL, Laura LAUZEMIS
Music: Nataliia AVRAMENKO
Production company: X-Filme Creative Pool
World sales: Outplay Films

Festival appearances2

Choose a festival entry to see its screenings, articles and audience reviews.

I Rarely Wake Up DreamingTokyo International Film Festival 2026, No. 39Women's Empowerment

I Rarely Wake Up DreamingBusan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31World Cinema

Festival history2

东京国际电影节, 2026Women's Empowerment, Official selectionTIFF Ethical Film Award 釜山国际电影节, 2026World Cinema, Official selection

Film posters

Poster language