{"id":173296,"date":"2020-11-26T01:59:01","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T23:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/the-kenyan-film-director-taking-on-the-world-with-positive-stories-of-black-life\/"},"modified":"2020-11-26T01:59:01","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T23:59:01","slug":"the-kenyan-film-director-taking-on-the-world-with-positive-stories-of-black-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/the-kenyan-film-director-taking-on-the-world-with-positive-stories-of-black-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kenyan film director taking on the world — with positive stories of black life"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a 2017 TED Talk<\/a>, the Kenyan film director<\/a> Wanuri Kahiu<\/a> shared her mission to make what she called \u201cAfrobubblegum\u201d art. The aim is to contribute to a world where African audiences see themselves reflected in ways that capture a full range of human experiences. To go beyond agenda-driven single stories of war, famine and HIV that have characterised much storytelling about Africa. <\/p>\n

Put simply, to tell stories where Africans are \u201cloving and thriving and living \u2026 beautiful, vibrant lives\u201d with the aim of creating among audiences a feeling that African lives are \u201cworthy of more happiness\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Kahiu took Afrobubblegum\u2019s aim and queered it in the form of Rafiki<\/em><\/a>, a vibrant film that tells the story of two young Kenyan women who fall in love. <\/p>\n

Same-sex sexual expression is prohibited<\/a> in Kenya. The legal framework continues to deny the possibility of queer existence. In addition, government officials<\/a> as well as religious leaders uphold a discourse of anti-homonationalism \u2013 to exclude queer-identifying people from the imagination of the nation. Rafiki<\/em> was accused of promoting homosexuality and swiftly banned<\/a> by the Kenyan Censor Board.<\/p>\n

Much of the international media focus has been on Rafiki\u2019s<\/em> ban in terms of the law and human rights<\/a>. What has received less attention is the fact that, in telling an upbeat story of two women in love, Kahiu successfully achieved in 83 minutes something the Kenyan government remains unwilling to do: include queer Kenyans in the national imagination.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a growing body<\/a> of African films that tell queer stories, but Rafiki<\/em> is one of the first feature-length films that fully celebrates queer love while also offering a glimpse of a future through the film\u2019s happy, hopeful ending. This, I argue<\/a>, gives the film radical worldmaking potential. And as Kahiu\u2019s star rises, she brings with her a more hopeful narrative for Black life.<\/p>\n