Through her production company, Joi Productions, Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor has produced films such as Rapman’s Blue Story starring Michael Ward and Aml Ameen’s Boxing Day, the UK’s first all-Black Christmas movie, starring Ameen, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. In 2020, the filmmaker was named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow and a BAFTA Breakthrough professional, while Joi Productions received a BFI Vision Award. Her short film, For Love, produced with support from BBC Film, premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in 2021 and went on to screen at festivals globally, receiving a nomination for Best Short Film at SXSW in 2022.
Dreamers, which world premiered at the 75th Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, and was in competition for the prestigious queer film Teddy Award, marks Gharoro-Akpojotor’s feature debut as a writer-director. Loosely based on her own experience as an asylum seeker, it follows Nigerian migrant Isio (Ronkę Adékoluęjo) who has been sent to a removal centre after living undocumented in the UK for two years. She is convinced that the only way out is to play by the rules, even when her charismatic new roommate, Farah (Ann Akinjirin), warns her otherwise. While adjusting to life in the removal centre, Isio finds herself falling in love with Farah. As her faith in the system wanes, her feelings for Farah deepen.
Following the Berlinale premiere of Dreamers, Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor speaks exclusively with The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann about her screenplay’s autobiographical origins, what she wanted to examine about the immigration system through this tender love story, and being inspired by the career of veteran film producer Christine Vachon.
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review: Why was this a story that you wanted to tell?
Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor: “It’s loosely based on my life, but not everything in the film happened to me. When I was going through the system, I realized that we need to change the conversation about immigration. But how do we do that? When I was going through it, I was like, ‘Everyone here is normal! We’re all just regular people with everyday problems’. But when you look at how the news reports about immigration, it never gives you an individual point of view. It’s always like, ‘Look at all these immigrants coming over here and look what they’re all doing’.”
“When you think about the process, how it works and how it traumatizes people, nobody really wants to talk about that. Because why would they? So the film is about changing the narrative a little. Let’s approach it differently. I remember the people who I met when I was going through my process and all of their stories. We all have different stories and all of us have different reasons for being asylum seekers. So I wanted people watch Dreamers and be like, ‘That’s just one person’s story, so imagine everyone else’s individual stories’. That was the point of making the film for me.”
That dehumanization and demonization of migrants in the media and by politicians creates something faceless, doesn’t it?
Joy: “Exactly and that allows people to go, ‘Oh, you’re talking about all those guys over there. We don’t have to treat them like people.’ Remember when Katie Hopkins wrote about asylum seekers being like cockroaches in The Sun? The only way you can do something like that is because you don’t know who they are as people. That’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever read. These are just people. Nobody chooses to leave because they’re like, ‘Oh, let me just get on this boat for a little trip and a swim.’ No, that’s not happening. There are reasons why people have to flee and leave their homes. So let’s talk about that.”
What was it like to channel your own experience of the system into this screenplay?
Joy: “When I went through the immigration process as an asylum seeker I had to prove that I was gay. How do you do that? Who knows?! I wanted the film to touch upon those kinds aspects of the system, but at the same time focus on an individual. Isio is definitely a character who I can relate to. The idea of going from somebody who wants to do the right thing and then realizes that perhaps that’s not the way to go about it. When I went through the system I was like, ‘I’m a good immigrant. I’ve done all the right things. So it should be straightforward.’ Then I suddenly realized that it wasn’t like that at all. The system doesn’t care if you’ve been good or bad. It’s a numbers game.”
“I was there going, ‘You guys don’t want me in this country? But look, I have a job. I pay taxes. I didn’t do anything illegal’. None of that matters. So that was something I wanted to come across when I was writing, but I also wanted to give a lot of hope. When I was going through the system as an asylum seeker my friends really helped me get through that time. They were a great reminder of the life that I could live and the reasons why I was doing this and why I wanted to stay like how open I could be about who I am.”
“All of these different things kept me going so that’s the reason why there’s joy in it and there’s laughter in it. Of course there is sadness too and it is bleak at times, but when people walk away from the film I want them to be like, ‘Oh, that was beautiful. Can I say that? Was it beautiful? Wait, what happened?!’ I want people to feel conflicted when they see it because that allows you to investigate those emotions and to dig deeper into examining the system that we have.”
In terms of having to prove that you were gay, that’s something that we see happen to Isio. What did you want to explore as we see her go through the asylum system?
Joy: “The absurdity of the system. I don’t know how to fix it, but it’s wild. It’s illegal to be gay in Nigeria, but that’s only been made official in the past few years. Back in the day, when my case was going through the system, it wasn’t explicitly outlawed. It was like, ‘You can be who you are as long as that doesn’t go against public morality and what everyone else believes’. Nigeria is quite a religious country, so because everyone else was like, ‘Well, being gay is bad’, it implicitly meant that it was illegal, but then it became explicit later on.”
“When I was going through my process, I remember the caseworker being like, ‘So is there an equivalent, gay-friendly city like Brighton in Nigeria?’ I was like, ‘No, there’s no Brighton in Nigeria’. Then he was like, “Well, can’t you just go and live up North, if your family is in the South?’ I was like, ‘That’s not really an option because Northern Nigeria is Muslim and there is Sharia law there.'”
“In the film, everything the caseworker says to Isio at the beginning of their meeting like, ‘I haven’t seen your passport or files”, is exactly the same thing that was said to me. Normally you have to come in with a statement. For me, it was basically to outline how I was gay. He was like, ‘I haven’t seen your passport. I haven’t seen any of your evidence. I haven’t read your statement.’ I sat there and thought, he knows nothing about me, or my country, or why I’m here, but he’s about to ask me questions that will determine whether I get to stay in this country or not. That is a problem. So that’s what that scene is about. This man is about to say to her, ‘Okay, let me figure out if you should be given asylum or not’, but he hasn’t done any work to be able to judge it accurately and that’s an issue that happens so many times.”
“In my case, luckily I had brought a copy of my statement with me which I gave him to read during lunch. When he came back he asked me questions based on my statement. I got so lucky because he was from Dagenham and I grew up in Dagenham, so we had a great conversation around Dagenham and I got a good decision. I think eventually he read all the stuff that I’d sent. I remember my lawyer saying to me, ‘The Home Office hates reading, so if we send them paperwork they’re not going to read it.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean? They have to read everything I send because that’s their job.’ But when he came in and was like, ‘I didn’t read anything’, I realized that my lawyer wasn’t lying! In what other job can you come in and be like, ‘I didn’t read any of that?!'”
Part of that feeling of hope that you mentioned comes from the tenderness between Isio and Farah. I love how warm the colours are in room that they share in the removal centre. When it came to creating the film’s visual language, what were your guiding principles for your crew?
Joy: “When I met Anna Patarakina my DP, Gini Godwin our Production Designer, Cynthia Lawrence-John our Costume Designer, and Regina Meessen our Hair and Makeup Designer, one thing that I was very clear about saying was, ‘This is a love story and it’s going to be colourful.’ I always spoke about their room being the warmest place and how it grows in warmth as they fall in love. The peak of their happiness is the dream house that they envision, their imagined future together. We wanted that sequence to stand out and for the colour palette that we created to feel really magical. That was a conscious decision to suggest that this is a life that they might never have. That’s the point, because it’s not real and even the idea they have of themselves outside is not real.”
“It was about the visual language taking the audience on a journey. When you’re falling in love, you’re all warm and fuzzy and the person you’re falling in love with looks beautiful. In your eyes, they look amazing because you are smitten and suddenly the light hits them differently and they can do no wrong. So it was about finding how we could visually have all those things in this room for these two people. There’s this moment when Farah brings Isio some food from the cafeteria and when they see each other there’s all this lovely sunlight coming through the window. It was about conveying how you see the person you’re falling in love with. Outside of that it was shot cold.”
“With Gini, I spoke about how these centres incorporate textures and colours to try to make them feel warm. They have lavender or pink walls because they’re trying to say, ‘It’s not a prison’. It is a prison, but they try to make it feel like it’s not. So we have some of that in there, but generally when we’re outside Isio and Farah’s room it’s about how cold the rest of the centre is. When Isio’s with her friends and dancing and cooking, we do have a level of warmth there too, but not to the extent of their room. When they’re in the art room there’s some colour because there’s art on the walls. These were the kind of decisions I made around how we view the film. Like the feeling of claustrophobia that we get because we never leave the centre. Even when we’re in a bigger space, like with the Masquerade scenes or outside in the yard, you don’t really see what that bigger space is like.”
“With the costume design, I spoke with Cynthia about conveying how long they’ve been there. So when Isio arrives she hasn’t got a lot of clothes. She only has two shirts and a couple of pairs of trousers which she changes around. Then when Farah goes, Isio starts wearing her jacket. We wanted to create a similar journey with their hair and makeup too. So I spoke with Regina about the colours and the themes.”
You already knew Ronkę Adékoluęjo and Ann Akinjirin because you’d worked on separate short films with them. What was it like to bring them together as actors and see them inhabit these roles?
Joy: “As well as working with them individually I’d known Ronkę for years before that, so you get to know people and their characteristics. Isio is a character whose emotions are out there, she leads with them. Ronkę is somebody who is full of life and energy and she is an amazing actress so I knew she’d be perfect for it. Ann is an understated actor who has a great ability to take something quiet and bring it to life. Farah is a quiet leader, but she’s also vulnerable. She has a lot of emotion that she doesn’t reveal. Isio is somebody who needs to learn to be a bit more like Farah and to look at life differently. She gives Isio a true picture of what the system is and what life really is. While Isio gives Farah the courage to not be afraid to be herself or to open up. Like the scene where they’re in bed and Farah tells the story about her father. In my mind, that’s the first time she’s actually told somebody that story in that place. She hasn’t told anybody else in there. They allow each other the space to be open with each other.”
“During the rehearsal process we built these characters together, gave them life and a backstory. We had an intimacy coordinator and we found trust. There were things that we spoke about in terms of the characters and their relationship that meant as we were shooting we could tap back into those things. I’d ask them to think in character, ‘What is the biggest argument that you’ve had? One that could end your relationship?’ All these different things meant that in their minds they knew where their boundaries were with each other as characters. That allows you to feel like you know these characters really deeply. So having that time beforehand meant that when we were on set we found ways in which these two characters could be together. I also think we found the chemistry between them during that rehearsal process.”
Finally, what’s favourite piece of LGBTQ+ culture or a person who identifies as LGBTQ+; someone or something that’s had an impact on you and resonated with you over the years?
Joy: “Christine Vachon who runs Killer Films. When I was first thinking about becoming a producer, I didn’t really know what the hell that meant. It didn’t make any sense to me. I started watching more queer films and I realized that the person making all these films like Go Fish, Poison, and Boys Don’t Cry was Christian Vachon. So I was like, let me go and find out more about this woman because she’s making the kind of films that I want to make. She has a book called A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond. I read that and I went, ‘This stuff is mad, I want to be a producer!’ Off the back of reading that book, I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker and tell queer stories. She was the only frame of reference I had of a queer woman making indie films. That was my entry point into all of it. I was also inspired by the long partnership that’s she had with Todd Haynes and all of their incredible work together.”
“In terms of queer culture, it’s between Bad Girls and The L Word. With Bad Girls, it was a prison drama with a lesbian couple and that was my first time going, ‘Oh my God, this is actually on TV?!’ Whereas with The L Word there were multiple characters and it was about seeing a variety of women going through messy women’s stuff. When I saw them I was like, ‘I want to do that!’ So those two shows influenced me as well.”
By James Kleinmann
Dreamers received its world premiere at the 75th Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, and was in competition for the 39th Teddy Award.