Three Ukrainian-produced films will compete across three different sections of the 2026 Locarno Film Festival. Isabelle Stever’s ‘I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming’ will screen in the International Competition, Natalka Vorozhbyt’s (‘Bad Roads’) ‘Demons’ will make its debut in the Cineasti del Presente section, while Hlib Feldman’s ‘Another Day in the Metal Box’ will be presented in the festival’s short film competition.
About ‘I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming’
The film by German director Isabelle Stever was produced as a German-Ukrainian co-production based on a screenplay by Ukrainian writer Anna Melikova. It will have its world premiere in Locarno.
The film tells the story of a young Ukrainian queer couple whose relationship is ‘tested’ when one partner’s gender transition overlaps with the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The cast includes Tania Myronyshena, Markus Bright, Iryna Mak, Viktor Zhdanov, Maiia Sobolevska, Mariia Myronyshena, and Oleksandr Rudynskyi.
About ‘Demons’
Co-produced by Poland and Ukraine, Natalka Vorozhbyt’s second feature film will debut in the Concorso Cineasti del Presente (Filmmakers of the Present) section. Set in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the story follows Nina, played by Ruslana Pysanka, who gives shelter to a vagrant Russian who calls himself a writer.
‘Hoping to build a new life with him, she gradually discovers his true nature as the mystical landscapes of Ukraine’s Poltava Region where witches live alongside humans and the dead speak to the living begin to reveal his secrets’, — the description reads.
The role of Nina was the final one in Ruslana Pysanka’s career; in July 2022, near the end of filming, she passed away at the age of 56. According to the production team, approximately 90% of her scenes had been shot by then, requiring some adjustments to the finale to preserve the director’s vision and honor her memory.
About ‘Another Day in the Metal Box’
Hlib Feldman’s 18-minute film stars Borys Savenko, Nadiia Karpova, and Vitalii Bobukh. ‘Another Day in the Metal Box’ will premiere at the Locarno Film Festival.
The short’s protagonist, Borys, is employed at a precast concrete factory while dreaming of a career in cinema. According to the trailer released on the festival’s website, the events unfold against the background of the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia.
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The 79th Locarno International Film Festival is scheduled for August 5–15, and the winners will be revealed on August 16.
