Film lovers in Kenya are flocking to the theaters to watch “Rafiki” – a local film – that was banned in the country by the Kenya Film and Classification Board, citing its homosexual theme.
A Kenyan High Court on Friday lifted the ban on the film to enable its producer Wanuri Kahiu to submit it for next year’s Academy Awards. It will be viewed in Kenya for seven days.
At one of the cinemas in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, film lovers stroll into the theatre to watch Rafiki, which had been banned in Kenya due to its lesbian love theme. Rafiki – Swahilli for “Friend” was screened to the Kenyan public on Sunday for the first time.
“It had a buzz online and I decided to come and watch it and it’s good to support Kenyan art.” “It was such a wrong idea to ban the movie just because of the idea around the movie,” said one attendee.
The Film’s director, Wanuri Kahiu and a group of local artistes, under the umbrella of the Creatives Economy Working Group moved to court seeking to have the Kenya Film Classification Board lift the ban on the film in Kenya.
“This was just of the process to say that we have a vibrant creative economy artistes are doing interesting and good work, people are earning livelihoods by becoming artistes and makers and the environment needs to support them,” says Joy Mboya of Creatives Economy Working Group.
Rafiki was early this year screened at Cannes Film Festival in France, the first ever Kenyan film to be screened at the prestigious festival.
The local ban however rendered it ineligible to the Oscars. Now, as per the judges ruling, Kenyans over the age of 18 can watch the film for at least a week on the film’s home soil.
The film is adapted from an award-winning short story Jambula Tree by Ugandan writer Monica Arac de Nyeko. It centers around two young women who meet and fall in love in a place where homosexuality is illegal.
“When you put a ban on something then people want to see what is it that …” voxies “and also it’s our own Kenya let’s support our son,” says added Mboya.
Some of those coming to the film feel well represented. The award winning film maker hopes to bag an Oscar.
