Lupita Nyong’o is earning praise from Kenyan social media users for a quote she made on her twitter account. The comment landed on the fans supporting Rafiki film and caused many to see it as a welcome change in the industry.
Great news: The Kenyan High Court lifted the ban on the film #RAFIKI and it plays for only 7 days making it eligible for Academy Awards submission! Run and go see it! Follow @rafikifilm for details! Great day for the creative industry in Kenya! Congratulations @wanuri!
— Lupita Nyong’o (@Lupita_Nyongo) September 22, 2018
Lupita earned her first Academy Award for her featured film debut as ,Patsey in 12 Years a Slave (2013), where she became the first Mexican and Kenyan actress to win the award.
Kenyans and the world will be able to watch Rafiki during daytime-only screenings at the Prestige Cinema in the capital for a week after a judge on Friday temporarily lifted a ban on the film, making it eligible to be entered for a Foreign Language Oscar. Rafiki means “friend” in the Swahili language.
To qualify as Kenya’s entry under the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2019 Academy Awards, Rafiki had to be released in the East African country.
The court ruling delighted the filmmakers but angered the Kenya Film Classification Board, which banned the movie in April on the grounds that it promotes homosexuality, which is a criminal offence under a colonial-era law.
In May, Rafiki premiered at Cannes, the first Kenyan film to be selected by the prestigious festival. Critics hailed it a “sweet” romance about two young women who live in the same Nairobi housing estate.
After Friday’s court decision on Friday, the Kenyan censor said it still considered Rafiki morally subversive.
That did not stop young Kenyans from turning out on Sunday afternoon to view the film, which the cinema ended up showing on an additional screen after more than 450 people showed up.
Vicky, a Nairobi photographer, came with her braided hair wrapped in a rainbow coloured scarf and said she was part of the LGBT community though declined to give her surname.
“This week means so much to so many people,” she said. “People can see themselves on screen and they can know that it is okay to express themselves in that way,” she said.
As Rafiki played and the audience in the two packed theatres cheered and clapped, Vicky said she could relate to many of the film’s topics, as the two lesbian protagonists struggled with homophobia among their friends, family, and church.