What is a false awakening?
A false awakening is a dream in which a person believes they have woken up while they are actually still asleep. Often associated with REM sleep, it can recreate familiar surroundings and ordinary routines so convincingly that the experience feels like waking life.
Sometimes, another apparent awakening follows, creating the impression of being caught in a loop. In A Dream of a Dream, this experience becomes the foundation of the story: the certainty of being awake, followed by the unsettling realization that the dream has not ended.
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About the Project
Mia wakes in a familiar bedroom, only to discover that each awakening folds into another dream. A Dream of a Dream explores false awakenings through repetition, subtle ruptures, and the growing fear that reality can no longer be trusted.
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Director’s Note
Translating my experience through generative AI A Dream of a Dream grew out of my own experiences with false awakenings. What stayed with me was how real everything felt: the familiar room, the apparent certainty of being awake, and the sudden realization that I was still dreaming. Through generative AI tools, I found a way to translate those sensations into images, movement, and atmosphere. They gave me a way to make an internal experience visible, shaping the spaces, repetitions, and subtle changes that reflected how I remembered feeling. My direction centered on that emotional progression: relief, doubt, recognition, and the growing desperation of trying to wake up. The camera, editing, and sound became part of the same subjective experience. This film is also the starting point for a broader intention: to explore sleep-related experiences through a series of cinematic stories featuring Mia Wald. I want to bring attention to experiences that can be difficult to describe and help open a wider conversation about sleep health and sleep disorders. My hope is that someone watching might recognize something they have experienced, find words for it, and feel less alone. — Julieta Abed, Creator & Director
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Visual Development
Mia’s character continuity anchors the loop while the camera language, atmosphere, and controlled visual changes gradually fracture the familiar space. Each image was developed to preserve her identity and build a narrative cycle that feels coherent, cinematic, and emotionally disorienting.
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