This film premiered at the 71st Cannes Film Festival. It was the first film from Kenya to screen at that festival. Due to the fact that it's about a lesbian relationship with an optimistic ending, the Kenya Film Classification Board banned the title and threatened to jail anyone who possessed it. The director and co-writer of the film, Wanuri Kahiu sued the KFCB and won the right to screen the film theatrically. Kahiu's intention was to submit the film to the 91st Academy Awards. Unfortunately, the film wasn't chosen as the official submission that year. It was a bit of a miracle that Kahiu's film got a theatrical release, but it not getting the submission is not a surprise. Kenya is a very homophobic country, as is most of Africa, except South Africa, which is why Kahiu's film and its existence is so important.
One of the first, African films to deal with LGBT issues or characters was Mohamed Camara's
Dakan (1997). It was a narrative about two black African men falling in love. In the 20 years since
Dakan, there have been a handful of African flicks about LGBT characters, including
The World Unseen (2007), which centered on lesbian protagonists. The best African film about LGBT experiences was
The Wound (2017), which was an official submission from South Africa to the 90th Academy Awards. Jim Chuchu who made
Stories of Our Lives (2014) is the only other film from Kenya about the LGBT experience that I could find. It makes this film very unique and special in various ways. It would be considered unique and special even in the United States, given that there aren't that many feature or theatrical films about black queer women, black lesbians, black gay women or black women with same-sex attraction. The only one that comes to mind is Dee Rees'
Pariah (2011).
Samantha Mugatsia stars as Makena Mwaura or Kena, a young Kenyan woman living in Nairobi with her mother. Her mother is a teacher and a very religious woman, so Kena knows not to share her same-sex attraction or homosexual feelings to her mother. It's not clear how old Kena is, but she works for her father who owns a small, grocery store. She also supports her father as he runs for political office. Kena's dad is running for election, so coming out to him about her gay tendencies probably wouldn't help his campaign. She does want to become a nurse or work in the medical field. She wants to focus on pursuing that career, but she can't help those tendencies, especially when she sees a beautiful girl in her neighborhood.
Sheila Munyiva co-stars as Ziki Okemi, the aforementioned beautiful girl in Kena's neighborhood. She is a very pretty girl around Kena's age with long, pastel-colored braids. She's not what's considered a typical, Kenyan girl. Neither is Kena who is more or less a tomboy. Ziki isn't a tomboy. She's more feminine as it were, but she's not afraid to jump onto a soccer field and play with the boys. She's less likely though than Kena. Ziki probably wouldn't be caught in the kitchen. She instead wants to travel the world and explore new things.
We get very sweet and adorable scenes of romance, as the two young girls navigate the stares and possible intrusions of their neighbors and family. The two girls can't keep their clandestine dates clandestine forever. Eventually, they get caught. It's then that Kahiu depicts the repercussions, big and small, that LGBT people face in Kenya. It's at times horrible and other times simply disheartening. The KFCB wanted Kahiu to have a less hopeful or optimistic ending. I'm glad that she didn't capitulate.
The only solution otherwise is that all LGBT people leave Kenya and flee to Europe, but that can't be the case for a lot of people. The solution has to be continuing to fight in Kenya for equality and LGBT rights. Kahiu's film shows that the answer is not to run away from that. It's to stay and fight or in this case to stay and love.
Not Rated but for teenagers and up.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 22 mins.
Available on DVD and VOD.
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