DIR. Wanuri Kahiu
YEAR. 2018
COUNTRY. Kenya
RUN-TIME. 82 mins
RATING. 12A
£6.00 (£4.50 conc.)
Doors 7.00PM
Film 7.30PM
Wanuri Kahiu’s 2018 drama follows the romance of Kena (Samantha Mugatsia) and Ziki (Sheila Munyiva), two young women in Kenya, and, in doing so, traverses the multilayered struggles accompanying queerness in Kenya. Based on the Ugandan short story Jambula Tree, Rafiki was banned by the Kenyan Film Classification Board, and subsequently became the first Kenyan film to feature at the Cannes Film Festival. The existence of the film is a highly politicised and brazen feat, as it is origins lie in a country where queerness is still seen as a perversion - an attitude that is disconcertingly legitimised by the laws (and lack of laws concerning LGBT people) that continue to subsist.
“Rafiki is a small revelation, not least because it marks the breakthrough of a filmmaker of such exhilarating, cheerfully courageous vision.”
Blood on Earth comprises a series of films embracing work which explores the human condition through stories from the African and Caribbean diaspora. The films showcased will cover feminist, LGBTQ+, class, and postcolonial dialogues, and in doing so bring a broad range of perspectives to the screen on a monthly basis.