Festival of Dreams is a series of workshops, virtual collaborations, and live performances that centers the dreams of young people living in challenging environments. By transforming daydreams and visions of the future into original films, sonic works, and visual art, this project challenges dominant narratives, builds solidarity, and offers a counter-narrative to division and marginalization. In a world shaped by conflict and barriers, the act of dreaming together becomes a tool for healing, resilience, and envisioning more just futures.

Festival of Dreams evolved from a series of workshops in 2018 with Found Sound Nation artists from the US, Palestine, and South Africa, and a group of children living in the long-standing Qalandia refugee camp. As a part of a larger initiative supported by the Doris Duke Foundation, this project united artists from muslim-majority countries - Morocco, Kurdistan, Indonesia, Palestine - with artists in the US. The project resulted in a four-week tour of performances and workshops across Appalachia, culminating in a performance at the Big Ears Festival.

As a part of this initial Festival of Dreams, we created a short film called ‘Wall Piano’. The film takes audiences into a daydream of a young girl who lives under the shadow of a separation wall. Part music video, part magic realism, the short film shows a wall as something other than an immovable barrier for a group of children living near the Qalandia checkpoint in Ramallah, a frontline of the West Bank conflict. The film was inspired and dreamed up by 12 year-old ‘Nada’, also featured in the film. The film has gone on to play at over 30 international film festivals, winning 10 awards, including at the prestigious Tampere Film Festival.

Future Festivals of Dreams will partner with local organizations, artists, and young people in communities across the U.S., leading workshops where participants will share, visualize, and compose new dreamscapes—reimagining futures beyond walls, divisions, and displacement.