Crocodile

Spanning 13 years, this lively documentary chronicles the incredible rise of a group of young Nigerian filmmakers working outside the system.

When The Critics, as they call themselves, first formed, its members were not even teenagers. Though the Nigerian cinema emerging from the Nollywood hub of Lagos is famously prolific, the collective’s members live hundreds of kilometres away in the northern city of Kaduna (also known as Croc City). The films that truly inspire these young adults – predominantly sci-fi blockbusters – were made not in Nollywood but in Hollywood. Hand-sewn green screen, makeshift tripods, borrowed iPhones: schooling themselves via Wikipedia and YouTube tutorials, The Critics use whatever’s on hand to furnish their playful but grand moviemaking visions. In the process, they attract thousands of fans online, including Star Trek director J.J. Abrams.

New Zealand director Pietra Brettkelly (Yellow Is Forbidden, MIFF 2018) worked with behind-the-scenes footage – shot over more than a decade by The Critics themselves – to co-author an account of their story to date. Tracing the group’s burgeoning political consciousness alongside their creative development and launching its international festival run at this year’s Berlinale, Crocodile reveals the tensions that arise between members as well as the harsh realities that their love of cinema has enabled them to transcend.

Content: Melbourne International Film Festival