Audiences in Kenya are finally allowed to watch “Rafiki” — for now, at least. A Kenyan judge has temporarily lifted the country’s ban on Wanuri Kahiu’s lesbian romance, Reuters confirms. The film is now eligible for consideration in the Oscars’ foreign-language category.
Written and directed by Kahiu, “Rafiki” was banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board in advance of its world premiere at Cannes, where it made history as the first Kenyan feature to premiere at the fest. The pic centers on two teens (Sheila Munyiva and Samantha Mugatsia) who face backlash from their families and communities when they fall in love. Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya, and the Kenya Film Classification Board determined that “the moral of the story in this film is to legitimize lesbianism in Kenya contrary to the law and the Board’s content classification guidelines.”
Justice Wilfrida Okwany ordered the ban to be lifted for a week. During the seven-day suspension period, the film “shall only be open for viewing to willing adults,” she said, adding that Kahiu is “hereby allowed to admit the film” to Kenya’s Oscars selection committee. The writer-director tweeted about the good news.
I am crying. In a french airport. In SUCH Joy! Our constitution is STRONG! Give thanks to freedom of expression!!!! WE DID IT! We will be posting about Nairobi screening soon. Follow @rafikimovie
— Wanuri (@wanuri) September 21, 2018
Predictably, the Kenya Film Classification Board objects to the ruling, and in a statement said, “It is a sad moment and a great insult, not only to the film industry, but to all Kenyans who stand for morality, that a film that glories homosexuality is allowed to be the country’s branding tool abroad.” Let’s put aside the fact that they referred to a piece of art as a “branding tool,” and instead recognize that the film destigmatizes LGBTQ love, and that’s something worth celebrating.
“I have always wanted to tell a modern African love story,” Kahiu told us. “Growing up, we rarely saw films of young Africans in love. We watched many Europeans and Americans fall in love on our screens over and over, but never us. I was in my late teens when I saw a young African couple kiss onscreen, and I still remember the thrill, surprise, and wonder — and how the film disrupted my ideas of romance. Before then, that kind of affection was reserved for foreigners.”
Jenna Cato Bass co-wrote “Rafiki.”
Women-directed films in the running for the foreign-language Oscar race include “I Am Not a Witch,” Rungano Nyoni’s satire about girl accused of witchcraft, and “Birds of Passage,” a Colombia-set drama about an indigenous family involved in drug trafficking co-helmed by Cristina Gallego.
