The ever-increasing accessibility of filmmaking means that anyone with basic technology can shoot and edit a film. However, only those with a story worth telling can hope to reach an audience and build a sustainable career. Before they were even teenagers, a group of boys in northern Nigeria started making their own movies. Thirteen years later, Crocodile captures their endlessly resourceful, creative spirit. That spirit caught the attention of J.J. Abrams and millions online, as well as the trials the group has faced along the way. Co-directed by Pietra Brettkelly alongside The Critics (the collective’s moniker), the resulting documentary resonates most when it focuses on the group’s artistic maturation. Yet, due to a sprawling, scattershot structure, the rest of the experience can feel unsatisfying, as a true sense of the subjects only sporadically flickers through.
“Instead of being angry, we make films to fill the void,” says one member of the collective as we meet founding members Raymond, Richard, and Ronald Yusuff, and Godwin and Victor Josiah. Living in Kaduna (also known as Crocodile City, though the animal that inspired the name is now nearly extinct there), the boys use filmmaking to escape harsh realities, including controlling parents, the loss of loved ones, and the temptations of crime. By focusing on science fiction, they set themselves apart from Nollywood, Nigeria’s robust mainstream film industry. Drawing overt inspiration from the likes of Star Wars and Joker, their interests match those of adolescents worldwide, yet this group makes their fantasies a reality. Their ingenuity has helped them rack up YouTube followers while pushing past roadblocks many privileged communities never face, such as electricity frequently cutting out during major edit sessions.
In inventive passages of magical realism, we see The Critics’ sense of escapism flow through as their creative process becomes part of the film’s own visual language, though one wishes for a more concrete sense of their actual body of work overall. When over 70 people are killed in a protest against police brutality, a political awakening begins to be reflected in their filmmaking. This shift from juvenile entertainment to socially conscious art is the film’s most fascinating thread, and one that could have been further fleshed out. In later sections, as fissures emerge due to artistic pressures, expanding interests, and personal transgressions, we begin to learn more about the individual members. However, without a stronger foundation for each person, the intended emotional impact isn’t completely felt.
Brettkelly is tasked with the concision of years of behind-the-scenes footage shot by the group, and the structure feels somewhat choppy, as if the film is trying to include a piece of everything rather than fashioning a coherent, compelling journey. In isolation, snapshots of the group’s against-the-odds expressiveness and their internal battles captivate, but Crocodile feels less cohesive as a complete work of storytelling. In capturing the growing pains of evolving nascent interests into a fully-fledged filmmaking career, Crocodile feels like an imprecise first draft of a much larger tale yet to be fully told. With The Critics now working on their narrative debut feature, this is just the beginning.
Crocodile premiered at the 2026 Berlinale.