Rafiki is a 2018 lesbian love story directed by Wanuri Kahiu. (Screen capture via TIFF/YouTube)
In the 2018 film “Rafiki,” protagonists Kena and Ziki share long looks that brim with yearning.
Their desire for one another exists most palpably in these silent pauses, where the outside world and the violence that awaits them are inconsequential. For these few, still beats, nothing can hurt or stop them from loving each other.
Director Wanuri Kahiu’s film illustrates the quiet, joyous, queer love story between two characters torn apart by circumstance. Their fathers are political opponents in a local election, and their surroundings affirm, again and again, that being queer is wrong, immoral, and “demonic.” Set in Nairobi, Kenya, where queer sex and love are illegal, “Rafiki” asks: How does love blossom in soil bent on destroying it?
Just as the film’s antagonists surveil, shame, and forbid Kena and Ziki’s relationship from developing, external forces tried to stop “Rafiki” from being screened and distributed in Kenya.
Eight years ago, the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) banned the film for its “overt promotion of lesbianism” after Kahiu refused to edit its ending. While Rafiki received acclaim at prestigious international events like the Cannes Film Festival, queer Kenyans could only access the film through what people outside the country were saying about it.
Kahiu then sued the Kenyan government, stating the film had to be screened in the country in order to be considered for that year’s Academy Awards ceremony. The ban was temporarily lifted for a week in September 2018, when large crowds packed screenings in Nairobi, celebrating the beautiful addition to queer Kenyan cinema.
Now, “Rafiki” has secured another victory. On January 23, Kenya’s Court of Appeal ruled that the provisions KFCB used to ban the film were unconstitutional and went against the country’s protections around freedom of expression. In a statement posted online, Kahiu acknowledged the “powerful” impact of this decision.
“8 years ago my film RAFIKI was banned in Kenya because it told a love story about 2 women,” Kahiu wrote. “The ruling is bigger than one film. It’s for filmmakers, artists, musicians, anyone who uses words, ideas or images. It’s for Kenyans who voted and fought for our 2010 Constitution. This is because OUR ideas are not crimes.”
The Court of Appeal’s decision means that Kahiu can appeal and seek a review of KFCB’s ban, which could allow the film to receive an age-appropriate classification and thus be screened in the country. This legal win is a step forward in resisting queer suppression and artistic censorship in Kenya, where directors like Kahiu are revitalizing the film space with diverse, vibrant stories.
Rafiki, or “friend” in Swahili, is a gorgeous portrait of how love revitalizes a person’s understanding of themself and the world around them. “I wish we could go somewhere we could be real,” Kena says to a dream-like illusion of Ziki: whose rainbow tresses, electric pink fingertips and unabashed smile offered a comfort and happiness that transmute the dreariness of living in the shadow of what everyone wants them to be.
Through the experience of loving Ziki, and being loved in return, Kena begins to grasp how to feel “real” against the very concrete constraints of life. For many queer people, seeking romance is a journey often relegated to the sidelines for safety, as one teeters shame and acceptability, obligation and freedom, love and duty. Rafiki offers a sapling of hope in the face of this realistic dilemma, as it unfurls the innocence and healing joy of queer love.
Kristie Song is a California Local News Fellow placed with the Los Angeles Blade. The California Local News Fellowship is a state-funded initiative to support and strengthen local news reporting. Learn more about it at fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/cafellows.
The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com.
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