“It was important to me that my lead character owned her gaze”
by Ana Stanic
CANNES 2026: The German filmmaker talks about the film’s border setting, working with non-actors, and creating a refreshingly rare female protagonist
German filmmaker Valeska Grisebach returns to the Cannes Film Festival with The Dreamed Adventure, with which she’s competing for the Palme d’or for the first time. We sat down with the director herself and Yana Radeva, who plays Veska, to talk about the film’s border setting, working with non-actors, and creating a refreshingly rare female protagonist: an older woman moving with quiet force through a male world shaped by trafficking, power and shifting loyalties.
