Vassilis Kroustallis reviews the LGBTQ+ drama 'Dreamers.
Everything looks tantalizingly calm in the sober but empowering LGBTQ+ drama 'Dreamers' by feature film newcomer Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor. The film, presented in the Queer Lisboa 2025 programme, is deceptively simple: Isio (Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo) is a Nigerian lesbian immigrant in the UK caught without papers. We follow her first day into the Hatchworth Removal Center, in which she's instructed to leave all her belongings (including her earrings) behind and settle into a room with fellow Farah (Ann Akinjirin). We initially get glimpses of a prison drama (the usual small-time gangs, in which loyalty is presupposed) and false enemies - both the other inmates, Nana (Diana Yekinni) and Atefeh (Aiysha Hart), have their own heart-wrenching stories to tell.
While 'Dreamers' uses the ruthless bureaucratic and xenophobic asylum procedure as the evil demon on which a relationship is built, it still manages to move beyond a direct condemnation of the UK authorities and their procedure. Even though it depicts prison guards and officers as either uneducated ('how do you know you're lesbian'?), deceptively helpful, or outright abusive, it works more as a framework to build a relationship between trust and empowerment. The newbie Isia thinks that simply telling her homophobic abuse story (some of it is harrowingly narrated in one of the film's most dramatic scenes) will grant her asylum, and Farah is there to tell her that this may still not be enough.
No big script surprises here; the romantic relationship between Isio and Farah will proceed as planned, and the soft cinematographic palette will ease the already edged environment.
'Dreamers' works best as a story of progressive individual empowerment (the usual words about trusting yourself and never giving up take on a deeper meaning) rather than a gut-wrenching romantic drama. We never lose sight of Isia's story and her battle to become a winner in her own personal appreciation battle, no matter what the external circumstances may be. Sometimes (and despite her unsuccessful early application results), things with her inmates fall too easily into her lap. Yet the film casts a soft eye on all the characters, letting their failures appear (and be forgiven) rather than punished, which relegates violence to a big, well-placed dramatic surprise rather than the bread-and-butter of ordinary semi-detention.
Both leads play off each other admirably, with facial and eye movements, as well as hand caressing, that lend substance to this relationship. Despite its setting, the film never feels claustrophobic (even art teaching spaces are available), but its nightmarish sequences are well-advanced. 'Dreamers' is a lovingly crafted story of a relationship that should have a future -and puts all its cinematic resources to that effect.
'Dreamers' screened as part of the 2025 Queer Lisboa festival.
Vassiis Kroustallis
