Rafiki

Wanuri Kahiu, Kenya/France 2018, 83 minutes

Rating: M violence, offensive language

The first Kenyan film to be selected for Cannes, Rafiki was banned in its home country last year – not for its lesbian content per se, but for its tone of hopefulness. The censors, director Wanuri Kahiu has sardonically explained, felt that the movie’s lesbian characters should have shown more remorse. Kahiu was looking to make a love story when she discovered Monica Arac de Nyeko’s Jambula Tree. She and co-writer Jenna Bass have now adapted the short story for the screen – but the resulting film is more than a universal tale of love.

Thanks to Institut Français