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| Friend (Rafiki) was banned because of its lesbian content |
A judge ruled yesterday that Friend (Rafiki), a film that was banned in its native Kenya in April, can be screened there for one week. This will allow it to qualify as the country's nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
The ban on the film was imposed because of its "clear intention to promote lesbianism," but it has been a success internationally, screening at Cannes and attracting widespread critical acclaim. It was originally inspired by Ugandan author Monica Arac de Nyeko’s short story Jambula Tree.
Earlier this month, director Wanuri Kahiu announced her intention to sue the government over the ban. "It’s not a government’s right to say what you can imagine and what you cannot imagine, and who is allowed to exist," she told Vanity Fair.
Screenings are now planned for Nairobi. In her ruling, Judge Wilfrida Okwany said that she that she was "not convinced that Kenya is such a weak society that its moral foundation will be shaken by seeing such a film."
Ezekiel Mutua, who heads the Kenya Film Classification Board, has expressed his unhappiness with the decision.
It's not the first time an Oscars contender has been snubbed by top officials in the country from which it hails. In 2012, Asghar Farhadi faced protest from the Iranian government after winning the Foreign Language category with A Separation, which deals with the subject of divorce.
