From Weimar activist to Dream collector to New York celebrity stylist, the untold story of one woman’s undercover mission to collect evidence against the Nazis.
A uniquely prophetic and penetrating insight into the psychological effects of totalitarianism. 

In 1933, the dreams of many Germans changed. Like seismographs of unfolding terror, they became cinematic and grotesque. Bedside lamps “turn traitor” denouncing the people who own them; Hitler is dressed in ballooning purple-satin clown’s trousers. These dreams bear witness to the Nazi invasion of the collective unconscious, and they only survive because one woman risked her life to record them. 

Drawn from her archive of letters, manuscripts and interviews, the film tells the captivating story of journalist Charlotte Beradt, prominently featuring the almost-forgotten dream collection she published in exile in the ‘60’s.  

Exploiting the poetic language of dreams, the film interweaves Charlotte’s biography “in her own words” with impressionistic dream-scenes, creating a surreal cinematic landscape. Exploring how ordinary citizens, crushed by political power, struggle for a form of expression in their dreams, it uncovers the hidden history of a country sleepwalking its way into evil. 

(Supported with Development grants from The Claims Conference, Jewish Story Partners and a 2024 Film Residency at the Jewish Film Institute. Please contact me if you'd like to learn more. 

The Third Reich of Dreams, by Charlotte Beradt, is republishing April 2026 with Princeton University Press. See here