The Armenian Film Society London presents the UK premiere of After Dreaming, the debut feature by Christine Haroutounian, as part of Jukebox Film Club.

The film follows Claudette, the daughter of a mistakenly assassinated well-digger, and Atom, a tight-lipped soldier, as they drift across a country suspended in a state of limbo, neither at war nor at peace.

Premiered in the Berlinale’s experimental Forum sidebar and co-produced by Carlos Reygadas, Haroutounian’s After Dreaming is a highly unconventional road movie that employs elaborate visual and narrative devices, immersing the viewer in a feverish, dreamlike state — partly informed by the filmmaker’s dual Armenian-Diasporan perspective. Evgeny Rodin’s softly out-of-focus cinematography acts as a kind of protective veil, reflecting the psychological disorientation of individuals — performed by first-time actors in the film’s lead roles — suffering from PTSD, if not that of an entire nation.

Not a conventional war film, After Dreaming addresses the immediate consequences of aggression offering a careful rendering of recent experiences of violence and loss, while projecting a fragile sense of hope toward the future. In this way, the film echoes the opening sequences of another female-led debut, My Sweet Land (2024), with their striking images of mass weddings in Shushi, Artsakh.

The screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A with the filmmaker hosted by Kira Adibekov and Tatevik Ayvazyan (AFSL).