argos is proudly taking part again in Artists’ Film International (AFI’25) — a touring film programme collectively curated and presented by 16 international arts organisations, convened by Forma.

Dream States, the 18th edition of Artists’ Film International, launches on 3 March 2025 with a visionary selection of artists’ moving image works. Exploring dreaming as both a transformative state and a radical act, the films in Dream States challenge perceptions of reality and open pathways to alternative futures.

Curated by Forma with 16 cultural institutions across four continents, this edition features a remarkable cohort of artists, each selected or commissioned by an AFI’25 partner. Presented in various formats — from exhibitions and festivals to screenings — the programme unfolds across the partners’ venues throughout 2025, guiding audiences through mythic worlds, dystopian landscapes, fractured memories, and speculative possibilities.

At the intersection of personal consciousness and external realities, Dream States explores the emancipatory potential of dreams, altered states, and cinematic illusion. The programme highlights artists who disrupt linear time, blur fact and fiction, and navigate the boundaries between memory, myth, and fantasy to reimagine the world anew. Using visual strategies ranging from analogue footage and CGI animation to archival materials, special effects and AI-generated imagery, these films harness moving image to destabilise dominant perspectives.

For this edition, argos presents Dystopian Patterns by Isabelle Nouzha. Made in 2019, this city symphony reorders the rubble of a city left in ruins. It could be Beirut after one of its many disasters, or any city void of human presence. In this black-and-white time-lapse video, Nouzha reveals a ‘waking nightmare’ rather than a dream. Natural light casts long, restless shadows, seemingly predicting the dystopian chaos that followed — from the rise of far-right politics to the global COVID pandemic. Read the interview with Isabelle Nouzha

The dates of the screenings at argos will be announced soon.