Kenyan Gay Life in a violent Homophobic Country
When most directors await the release of their film, the worst they can expect is a negative review. For Jim Chuchu, the fallout could have been far worse.
That’s because the Kenyan artist and filmmaker had chosen to tackle a subject often shrouded in secrecy in his home country: the experience of LGBTI individuals. The resulting film, Stories Of Our Lives, presents viewers with five fictionalised vignettes, but the stories it tells reflect a wider reality.
In Kenya homosexual sex acts are punishable by up to 14 years in prison, though convictions are rare. Nonetheless, the Kenyan Human Rights Commission reported in 2011 that “LGBTI persons are routinely harassed by the police, held in remand houses beyond the constitutional period without charges being pressed against them, and presented in court on trumped-up charges”.
Chuchu, together with fellow members of Nairobi-based artists’ collective The Nest, travelled around Kenya to collect hundreds of accounts of what life is like for gay and transgender citizens. He says their film, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September, is a composite of these stories. It feature lesbian schoolgirls, a closeted gay man in love with his straight best friend, and – inevitably – homophobic attacks.
In some cases, the dialogue was taken straight from the audio interviews conducted by Chuchu and his collaborators. But the idea of making the film as a documentary was rejected by the collective.
“We felt that the documentary format wouldn’t give us the breadth and nuance of narrative storytelling,” Chuchu says. “We wanted to find the universal stories within the multiple individual tales.”
Chuchu said in one interview that he would never have been able to create his film in neighbouring Uganda, where an anti-gay bill was passed last December decreeing that “repeat homosexuals” should be jailed for life. The bill has since been declared invalid by the constitutional court, but a climate of homophobia and anti-gay violence prevails.
In Kenya, the film-makers are awaiting a decision by the local film classification Board, which will determine whether the film can be screened locally. A ruling is expected next week.
Chuchu and his co-producers initially decided to release the film anonymously, to protect the cast and crew from possible backlash. But ahead of its premiere in Toronto they changed their minds, and put their names to it - explaining their decision in a statement.
“We made this film because we believe strongly that the fight for the right to define one’s self, the right to be complex and different and unique, should be fought for proudly and openly,” they said.
The film, shot using only one camera on a budget of $15,000, has received enthusiastic reviews abroad. But for Chuchu, the most gratifying responses have been closer to home.
“We have received a lot of goodwill and positive curiosity from many Kenyans who feel that they want to see the film and engage with the conversation around LGBTI identities,” Chuchu says.
Comments