After an abrupt layoff, Z embarks on a trip across the Midwestern United States in search of a friend who has seemingly disappeared off the grid. Traveling with her two closest friends, these three queer black femmes find their priorities tested as shapeshifting threats in each city expose (inter)personal and ideological fractures.

Black Gold returns Sunday, March 8th to close out its programming block platforming independent Black women and gender diverse filmmakers!

Our final screening in this arc of films that, despite critical acclaim, have struggled to find wide distribution, is Shatara Michelle Ford’s DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES (2024)! The sophomore film from the Arkansas and Missouri native following their critically acclaimed debut feature, TEST PATTERN (2019), DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES had its world premiere at the BlackStar Film Festival in 2024 followed by its international premiere at the 2025 Berlinale.

Putting their singular stamp on the American road movie, Ford’s DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES follows Z (Denée Benton), who, after being unceremoniously laid off, embarks on a trip across the Midwestern United States in search of a friend that has seemingly disappeared off the grid. Traveling with her two closest friends, these three queer black femmes find their priorities tested as shapeshifting threats in each city expose (inter)personal and ideological fractures. Tender and expansive, Ford has created an ode to chosen family and the radical act of claiming space to dream—and exist—beyond the systems of an increasingly fraught country. -SARAH-TAI BLACK

Filmmaker Biography: Shatara Michelle Ford is an African-American filmmaker born in Arkansas, Missouri and currently living in Pennsylvania, USA. Ford’s films explore memory, perception, alienation, isolation, America and Americanness, all the while interrogating systems of oppression via characters who must live or survive within them. Ford’s debut film Test Pattern was released to critical acclaim, was nominated for a Gotham Award in three categories and won awards from the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle, the Austin Film Critics Association, the Women Film Critics Circle, the New Orleans Film Festival and the BlackStar Film Festival. Ford is also the recipient of the New Generation Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Featuring a post-screening virtual Q&A with  filmmaker Shatara Michelle Ford

Accessibility:

• Paradise has a wheelchair accessible washroom on site and wheelchair accessible spaces within the cinema.
• Patrons are kindly asked to wear a mask while attending this screening. Black communities continue to be disproportionately affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the structural inequities it further entrenches. KN95 and/or N95 masks will be available onsite for guests.
• The feature film will be presented with open captions and the post-screening virtual Q&A will include onscreen transcription via Google Meets.
• Please don’t hesitate to reach out to either Black Gold or Paradise if you have additional access needs, concerns, or questions!

Doors Open 30 Minutes Before Showtime.