The film was celebrated at Cannes and banned in Nairobi. Rafiki, Wanuri Kahiu’s story of two young women falling in love, became in 2018 the first Kenyan film to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival. At home, the Kenya Film Classification Board banned it, saying it promoted lesbianism. Kahiu went to court.
The story
Rafiki, meaning “friend” in Swahili, follows Kena and Ziki, two young women in a Nairobi housing estate whose fathers are political rivals. As they fall in love, they face gossip, family pressure and violence from neighbours. The film is based on a short story by the Ugandan writer Monica Arac de Nyeko, “Jambula Tree”.
The look
Kahiu filled the film with bright colours, pink hair and Nairobi street life. She has described a style she calls “Afrobubblegum”, a deliberate choice to show Africa as joyful and colourful on screen rather than only as a place of suffering.
Cannes
The film premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, a landmark for Kenyan cinema. International critics praised its warmth and its performances by Samantha Mugatsia and Sheila Munyiva.
The ban
The Kenya Film Classification Board, then led by Ezekiel Mutua, banned the film from being shown or distributed in Kenya. Homosexual acts are illegal in Kenya, and the board said the film’s content was against Kenyan values.
The court case
Kahiu sued the board and the attorney general, arguing that the ban violated freedom of expression. On 21 September 2018, Justice Wilfrida Okwany lifted the ban for seven days, allowing the film to be screened to willing adults.
Seven days
The seven-day window mattered. To be submitted for the Academy Awards’ foreign-language category, a film must be screened commercially in its home country for at least seven days. During that week, screenings in Nairobi sold out.
The Oscar
Kenya’s selection committee chose a different film as its Oscar entry, so Rafiki did not compete. But the case had already made it one of the most discussed African films of the year.
The debate
The case sharpened debates in Kenya about censorship, LGBTQ rights and artistic freedom. The board continued to oppose the film. Supporters said the ruling was a victory for free expression.
Kahiu set out to make a love story. Her government turned it into a test of what Kenyans are allowed to see, and for one week in Nairobi, audiences queued to find out.
