Locarno competition film 'I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming' rewritten mid-development after Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Isabelle Stever's 'I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming,' a German-Ukrainian co-production written by Anna Melikova, premiered in Locarno's Concorso Internazionale on 11 August 2026. The script, a Berlinale Kompagnon Fellowship winner, began as a story about transition within a couple; after Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Melikova rewrote it into a narrative interrupted by war. Outplay Films acquired distribution. Variety, 11 August 2026.