Now, it has won the audience and jury awards for Best Narrative
Feature at the TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the
Silver Hugo award at the Chicago International Film Festival.
Ben McCarthy, executive director of Three Dollar Bill Cinema, where the Seattle Queer Film Festival was held, praised the film.
“We are thrilled that Rafiki won both the audience and jury
awards for narrative feature and that we can bring further attention to
this important, beautiful film from a country whose LGBTQ community
faces rampant discrimination and fear of imprisonment.”
A colonial-era penal code in Kenya criminalizes sodomy, which is
interpreted as sex between men. Sex acts between women are not
specifically referenced by the archaic law, but lesbians can face
extreme persecution in the country.
Despite this, when the ban on Rafiki was temporarily lifted, so it would be eligible for Oscars consideration, it shattered box office records in the seven days it was screened.
Cinemas in Nairobi rapidly added extra screenings to the film to keep up with the demand from sold-out crowds.
“There’s this new East African word called ‘gayism,’ and the
conversation was about that, how this film is promoting and spreading
‘gayism.’ The judge said, ‘No, you don’t catch it,’ and lifted the ban,”
she said.
“We’re going back into court to continue to fight for the larger freedom of expression case (to secure a permanent release).
“We have a really young constitution but our constitution hasn’t been tested yet. Freedom (of) expression is one bit.
“The laws that ban the film are colonial laws, and we are asking for
the laws to be updated so that they reflect the constitution that we
have. There’s nothing in the constitution that says we can’t make films
like this.
“I never considered myself an activist… but my work became work that
you needed to advocate for. I was pushed into a space where I had to
advocate for the work I was creating.”
Academy Award nominations will be announced in January 2019, with Rafiki’s cast and director hoping for a nod.
Brazil did it. Brazil elected a neo-facist, racist, homophobic asshole to govern our country and the consequences about it it’s already happening.
In less than 24h since he’s been elected it’s been hell of fucking earth in Brazil. Countless people have been reported dead all over the country, mainly LGBTQ+. Countless. People parading around cities with their fucking guns (it’s pretty much illegal in Brazil but this asshole is trying to change our law to allow guns, he’s even encouraging parents to give their kids a gun ????), shooting it into the sky in sign of victory. Did you know that one of those bullets killed a child? Yeah. One killed an old lady too. There’s been report of them invading a indigenous village and attacked them. They’ve been saying they are going to kill every single “slut”, “fag”, “dyke”, poor people, Nordestino (people that lives in Nordeste, a region in Brazil, that is mainly against this government), black and homeless people. Aka in the last 24h Brazil felt what is like to live in the fucking Purge.
There’s already people recruiting “good citizens” to erradicate Brazil of “fags and dykes, because now that their master’s been elected, there’s nothing protecting them, they’re not even people.” I kid you not. They’ve created group chats in popular apps to talk about mass shooting the LGBTQ+ community in Brazil. Yesterday there were people waiting outside a queer club to beat anyone that went outside.
Our police enforcement already started to invade college campuses and schools to destroy history books because they think our teachers are indoctrinating us in favor of communism. These history books tells about our 1964 military dictatorship (something we’re very afraid of happening again and we’re pretty sure is gonna happen with this demon in charge). They are trying to say that we choose to elect a military government back then, when in fact was a fucking coup. They’re also trying to get rid of philosophy classes and social studies because they think it only teach us to become communists as well. Basically, they’re all very ignorant and violents and they’re trying to fuck with the only fucking hope we have to our future: education.
You won’t probably hear many of the things I’m saying because I’ve been reading it on social media, and everything we (the opposition) say on social media is basically reported as “fake news” by his voters. But yeah, I can’t count how many videos I’ve saw today of women getting beaten and threatened. Of how many stories I’ve read of people walking the streets and cars pullover poiting guns at them and threaten them. Of people posting pictures of their “victory bbq” with guns spread in their tables close to their fucking meat. Of how many times I’ve cried since his pronouncement, thinking about how I’ve never felt so unsafe in my entire life. Of how I’ll have to be cautious about everything from now on, if I don’t want to become another casualty.
If you don’t believe what I’m saying, read about what foreign news are talking about us:
I do not care if you give two shits about politics or what’s happening in the world right now, just please take some time out of your day to really look at this.
LGBT BRAZILIANS TAKE CARE WITH DATING APPS AND GRINDR, THEY WILL BE USED TO TARGET VICTIMS PLEASE SIGNAL BOOST
ALSO!!!!!!!!!!!!
In Whatsapp (the most used messaging app in Brazil), if you receive a contact from a “juridical support group for LGBT+ people who are being harassed” called “REAJA”, DO NOT INTERACT!!!!!!! Apparently, this is not a real support group but it’s a trap that are targeting LGBT+ people to physically harm them. They people behind “REAJA” have very malicious intentions.
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