Private Project

Dreams Awaken (Jaagte Khwaab)

If dreams had eyes of their own, would they see reality for what it is? A queer desire transcends from a night's dream to the day's reality when the filmmaker starts filming her everyday. The camera becomes the 'I' and travels through spaces to seek an understanding of its puzzled sense of being.

  • Aprajita Gupta
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes 54 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 31, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    English, Hindi
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Creative Documentary Course, Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication, New Delhi
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Dharamshala International Film Festival 2023
    Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh
    India
    November 7, 2023
    Official Selection
  • SiGNS Film Festival 2024
    Kerala
    India
    (Documentary Competition - Official Selection)
  • Kurzfilm Festival x 10th India Week Hamburg , Lichtmess Theatre
    Hamburg
    Germany
    November 24, 2023
    Germany Premiere
    Curated Selection
  • Liberation DocFest Bangladesh 2024
    Dhaka
    Bangladesh
    Bangladesh Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2025
    Chennai
    India
    Official Selection
  • K. R. Mohanan Memorial International Documentary Film Festival
    Palakkad, Kerela
    India
    K.R. Mohanan Memorial Award
  • New Wave International Documentary Short Film Festival 2024
    Kozhikode, Kerala
    India
    Best Film, Jury's Choice
  • Bangalore Queer Film Festival, 2023
    Bangalore
    India
    August 4, 2023
  • Beyond Borders Feminist Film Festival 2023
    Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi
    India
    November 30, 2023
    Delhi Premiere
    Official Selection
  • QIFF Playa del Carmen 2023
    Playa del Carmen
    Mexico
    November 6, 2023
    Official Selection
  • Lift-Off First-time Filmmaker's Session May 2023
Director Biography - Aprajita Gupta

Aprajita is an independent filmmaker and artist-researcher. Her artistic practice is informed by her holistic approach exploring various skills and forms and narratives on women's lives intersecting with sexuality, identity, displacement, migration, and technology. She has directed three short films under the guidance and patronage of Creative Documentary Course (SACAC) 2020-2022, reFrame genDeralities Fellowship 2023 and Rough Edges Uncode Fellowship 2023. Her films have screened at renowned spaces including International Documentary Short Film Festival of Kerala; Dharamshala International Film Festival; Seoul Women International Film Festival; & Litchmess Theatre, Germany to name a few. Her notable films include Jaagte Khwaab/Dreams Awaken (19 mins, Personal Doc, 2022), Beyond Ratings (38 mins, Doc, 2024) & Sab Kuchh Apna/All that we Own (36 mins, Personal Doc, 2024, releasing soon).

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

A dream is the central character of the film. The dream represents the interior space - the subconscious where desire lies - while other strands offer the filmmaker's response to heteronormativity. In the film, the filmmaker attempts to understand companionship and her dilemmas. The camerawork opens layers on women's sexuality, same sex desire and monogamy in a middle class family while the editing creates claustrophobia of the inner self. It is a self reflexive documentary where the filmmaker has turned the camera on herself and has attempted to document her struggles with identity.