What if you stopped dreaming? And what if dreams held answers that science is only beginning to seek?

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During the pandemic, director Marcelo Gomes wakes up to an unsettling silence: the dreams he had drawn on throughout his life as a source of inspiration have disappeared. He turns to neuroscientist Sidarta Ribeiro for answers, and together they embark on a two-year journey across Brazil. From laboratories to ancestral rituals and the carnival in Olinda, they explore what dreams are actually for and what they might be trying to tell us.

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Along the way, they meet Indigenous thinker Ailton Krenak, a priestess of the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé, psychedelic researchers and a scientist studying a dreaming octopus. Moving between science and myth, the film unfolds through 8mm, 16mm and digital images, complemented by animation that evokes the very sensation of dreaming. Brazilian critics have described it as a “neo-psychedelic plunge into the human mind.” Hypnotic, surprising and warm, it is a journey for anyone curious about what happens inside our heads when we close our eyes.

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Fun fact: Marcelo Gomes made his feature debut with Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures, which screened at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section in 2005. This year, he served on the jury of the main competition at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.