German filmmaker Valeska Grisebach has returned to feature filmmaking with The Dreamed Adventure, which debuted in the Grand Théâtre Lumière this afternoon in Cannes to a five-minute ovation. 

Set in a border town in southeastern Bulgaria, the film follows a woman who becomes involved in an illegal trade to help out a man with whom she shares a special bond. 

The official synopsis continues: “Embarking on a perilous adventure in his stead, she ends up confronting both her own desires and her past.”

Written and directed by Grisebach, the film stars Yana Radeva and Syuleyman Halil Letifov (Western). The project was produced by Komplizen Film in co-production with Kazak Productions, Miramar Film, Panama Film, Grisebach, New Matter Films, ARTE France Cinéma, and ZDF/ARTE and in collaboration with ARTE France.

The Dreamed Adventure is Grisebach’s first feature since 2017’s Western. The film is also Grisebach’s first time in the Cannes Competition. 

“Being invited to the competition at the Cannes Film Festival fills me and the entire team with great joy,” Grisebach said in a statement after her film was announced. 

“The starting point for this film was my encounters with people of my generation who experienced the political changes in Bulgaria in 1989. They showed me how deeply this turning point in Europe connects us — and at the same time divides us, through the very different experiences that followed in the years after.” 

The Dreamed Adventure is one of the last Competition films to debut in Cannes.  

The festival ends tomorrow.