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Rafiki, an acclaimed film
portraying a lesbian romance that was until Friday banned in
Kenya where it was made, showed on Sunday to a cheering,
sold-out audience in Nairobi.
Nairobi residents will be able to watch Rafiki during
daytime-only screenings at the Prestige Cinema in the capital
for a week after a judge on Friday temporarily lifted a ban on
the film, making it eligible to be entered for a Foreign
Language Oscar. Rafiki means “friend” in the Swahili language.
Read: High court lifts ban on lesbian themed movie ‘Rafiki’
To qualify as Kenya’s entry under the Best Foreign Language
Film category at the 2019 Academy Awards, Rafiki had to be
released in the East African country.
The court ruling delighted the filmmakers but angered the
Kenya Film Classification Board, which banned the movie in April
on the grounds that it promotes homosexuality, which is a
criminal offence under a colonial-era law.
In May, Rafiki premiered at Cannes, the first Kenyan film to
be selected by the prestigious festival. Critics hailed it a
“sweet” romance about two young women who live in the same
Nairobi housing estate.
After Friday’s court decision on Friday, the Kenyan censor
said it still considered Rafiki morally subversive.
That did not stop young Kenyans from turning out on Sunday
afternoon to view the film, which the cinema ended up showing on
an additional screen after more than 450 people showed up.
Vicky, a Nairobi photographer, came with her braided hair
wrapped in a rainbow coloured scarf and said she was part of the
LGBT community though declined to give her surname.
“This week means so much to so many people,” she said.
“People can see themselves on screen and they can know that it
is okay to express themselves in that way,” she said.
As Rafiki played and the audience in the two packed theatres
cheered and clapped, Vicky said she could relate to many of the
film’s topics, as the two lesbian protagonists struggled with
homophobia among their friends, family, and church.
Kenyan rights activists are fighting to decriminalise gay
sex, a step taken in India earlier this month, raising hopes
among gay rights proponents in Africa.
However, Vicky said that once the screening was over and she
left the cinema, she would not dare wearing her rainbow scarf.
“This feels like a safe space. But the second I leave this
(cinema), I don’t want anyone to see my face like that. Not
because I’m scared that I am not a normal person, but because I
am scared of expressing myself that way. So much judgement comes
with it.”
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