A judge has temporarily lifted the ban on Rafiki to allow it to be entered for an Oscar

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Rafiki, an acclaimed film portraying a lesbian romance that was, until Friday, banned in its home country Kenya, showed on Sunday to a cheering full house 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 an Oscar. Rafiki means “friend” in Swahili.

To qualify as Kenya’s entry in the best foreign language film category at the 2019 Academy Awards, Rafiki had to be released in the east African country.

Kenya briefly lifts ban on gay film to allow for Oscar submission Read more

The court ruling delighted the film-makers 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 as 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 showed on an additional screen after more than 450 people arrived.

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 OK 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, and with the two lesbian protagonists struggling 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 African countries.

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 judgment comes with it.”