“Dreamers” to Close Berlinale Spotlight: Accra 2025

Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor’s Dreamers has been selected as the closing film for the second edition of Berlinale Spotlight: Accra, scheduled for September 3–7, 2025, at the Goethe-Institut in Cantonments, Accra, Ghana.

The five-day program, organized by The Falcon in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Ghana, the German Embassy, African Film Festival Cologne, and GIZ, will feature nine of the 13 African films that premiered at the Berlinale earlier this year. The initiative brings these films to local audiences, many of whom would not have access to theatrical releases of such works.

Dreamers follows the story of Isio, a Nigerian migrant who, after living undocumented in the United Kingdom for two years, is detained and sent to the Hatchworth Removal Centre. Hoping for a fair asylum hearing, Isio attempts to follow the rules closely, despite warnings from her roommate Farah, with whom she develops a romantic relationship. The screening on September 7 will be accompanied by a Q&A session with Gharoro-Akpojotor.

Other selections include Minimals in a Titanic World by Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo, Khartoum by Ibrahim Snoopy, Ancestral Visions of the Future by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, Cobalt by Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, The Settlement by Mohamed Rashad, Don’t Wake the Sleeping Child by Kevin Aubert, and The Heart is a Muscle by Imran Hamdulay. Several of the films are debut features by Berlinale Talents alumni.

The festival will also host two panel discussions organized by GIZ, examining themes from Cobalt and The Settlement. Cobalt explores the connection between cobalt extraction and global capitalism, while The Settlement addresses child labor under fragile economic conditions.