Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, the producer who founded Joi Productions (Blue Story, Boxing Day) steps behind the camera for the first time with a film rooted in her own experience. Set in a UK immigration removal centre, Dreamers follows the story of Nigerian migrant Isio who finds hope in an unexpected love that gives her the strength to fight a broken system.
In this interview, Joy talks to Girls on Tops about challenging refugee stereotypes, crafting a bold visual language and creating a story that asks audiences to see asylum seekers with fresh eyes, as people searching for safety, connection and a life of their own.
1. Dreamers is loosely based on your own asylum story. In your experience, what’s the most common misconception about seeking asylum and how does the film quietly rewrite that?
I think people assume that asylum seekers / refugees - you know, according to the media - are all coming to steal people’s jobs and use benefits and nobody ever thinks about the real story behind why people seek asylum or why people are looking for safety and that kind of stuff. By using a love story, the film allows you to humanise and think about asylum seekers as individuals and as people. This is one person’s story and at no point, does it ever come across that they even know about how the benefits system works or any of that, and actually, the ultimate thing is that for most of them, they just wanna live life, have a job, be themselves, be free - and I think the film highlights that. I think that’s how we change the narrative.
2. The cinematography in Dreamers is striking - a joyful, colourful representation of queer Black womanhood in a space where joy isn’t meant to exist. What was it like working with cinematographer Anna Patarakina to build and shape that visual language?
Myself and Anna - as well as our Production and Costume Designers, Gini and Cynthia - always spoke about the film as a love story. We spoke about it in terms of poetry, in terms of colours. I was really keen - because it is a love story - for the room that Isio and Farah are staying in in this Immigration Centre, to feel warmer as they fell in love; I wanted the light to change ever so slightly as they saw each other and I wanted to make a stark difference between their room and the rest of the centre, which is a bit colder, a bit bleaker. We also talked about having colours that popped every once in a while in other scenes, either outside or in the art room, for example, which is the most colourful - because, I think for me, there’s always a thing where we represent refugees and it’s all very bleak or blue and sad and it forces the audience to be like ‘Oh, poor people over there’. Whereas for me, I wanted to bring the audience in so they could feel like these are people that they know and these are people that they can see everyday - because, actually, we do see immigrants everyday.
3. You’ve spent years protecting other people’s visions as a producer. What was it like protecting your own debut directorial vision?
Oh lord (laughs). I had a great producer in Emily Morgan and I think she really understood what I was trying to do, and we spoke a lot about colours, and the world of the women, and also still trying to be authentic. She helped protect my vision a lot of the time and I think also having the right HoDs, who really understood what I was trying to achieve, was really helpful. So, I think it’s really about having the right team around you, who kind of understand where you’re trying to go, what you’re trying to say, how you’re trying to say it, and who are able to give you like a 1000%, and that was Emily and everyone else involved.
4. The cast are formidable, you can really feel a deep sense of empathy and authenticity in their performances. And Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo, Ann Akinjirin, Diana Yekinni and Aiysha Hart are all actors who write, direct and shape work in their own right. What did they bring to Dreamers that expanded the film beyond what was on the page?
We had two weeks of rehearsal. One of the ways in which I like to rehearse is to ask a lot of questions and to think beyond the script that I’ve written. And so, with each one, we sort of formed back stories, we also formed visions outside of the place, if they ever got out. I wanted them to expand through these questions that I was asking them. Also, we had an intimacy coordinator rehearsal, a movement rehearsal - which helped to create a sense of connection between the cast members. So, for me, it was about allowing the actors space to find the characters themselves; but also, when I come on set, if a word or a line or a phrase doesn’t feel right based on our rehearsals, we’d change it as long as it had the same meaning. We were always very fluid in our approach. I’m quite collaborative, which I think helped everyone to be able to bring themselves to the story and to the world and I think, allow them to be a bit more authentic in their character, as well.
5. If you could curate a double bill with Dreamers, what other film would you pair it with and why?
Oh my goodness! A film called Joy (written & directed by Sudabeh Mortezai). It’s an Austrian film, funnily enough. It’s about Nigerian sex workers. It’s also about immigration and I think it’s a little bit harsher, than my film, but it’s got a similar energy, a similar world - but I think it’s equally about this woman who finds herself in Austria as a sex worker and a new girl comes in, who doesn’t realise she’s come to be a sex worker; and it’s about how she helps her and it’s also about how she’s trying to escape the world that she’s in and just the realities of being in the system. For me, it’s in a different country, but it’s the exact same story of trying to escape, trying to find freedom and just trying to be yourself and trying to find love.
6. Why should people go see Dreamers in cinemas, and what conversation do you hope the film sparks once they leave the cinema?
I think, ultimately, Dreamers is a love story. It’s a story about hope, it’s a story about community, joy, friendship. I think if you want to see something that makes you cry, makes you happy, makes you laugh - go see it. I hope that when people see it, they walk away with a renewed sense of how they view themselves, how they view others and how they view immigration; and how they interact with political and non-political policies around them; and how they can change even their day-to-day life in response to what the film gets them to think about.
Dreamers is now in UK & Ireland cinemas. Find a showing near you.