[Cinema in Context] Rafiki
May. 16th, 2019 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hermionesviolinOn Monday night, I went to the Cinema in Context screening at the Brattle of Rafiki -- the Kenyan lesbian movie.
I was both surprised by how bright and fun it was (I hadn't actually watched the trailer, I just knew I wanted to see the film) -- and then surprised by the dark turn near the end, given how bright and fun it had been (though I'd also been low-key bracing myself for a dark turn, and it certainly didn't come out of nowhere, and it was also nowhere near as dark as it could have been).
Prof. Amah Edoh (who I was pleased to learn is a queer African woman herself) said that the director (Wanuri Kahiu) tries to make "Afro Bubble Gum" art -- "fun, fierce and frivolous representation of Africa." She has a quasi-Bechdel test for that, which Prof. Edoh read to us, and I didn't write it down at the time but I Googled and got an NPR interview:
Prof. Edoh also said the soundtrack of the film is entirely African women -- primarily Kenyan, but one Namibian.
I was both surprised by how bright and fun it was (I hadn't actually watched the trailer, I just knew I wanted to see the film) -- and then surprised by the dark turn near the end, given how bright and fun it had been (though I'd also been low-key bracing myself for a dark turn, and it certainly didn't come out of nowhere, and it was also nowhere near as dark as it could have been).
Prof. Amah Edoh (who I was pleased to learn is a queer African woman herself) said that the director (Wanuri Kahiu) tries to make "Afro Bubble Gum" art -- "fun, fierce and frivolous representation of Africa." She has a quasi-Bechdel test for that, which Prof. Edoh read to us, and I didn't write it down at the time but I Googled and got an NPR interview:
The test asks three questions. The first question: Are two or more Africans in this piece healthy? The second question is: Are those Africans, the same healthy Africans, are they financially stable and not in need of saving? And the third question: Are they having fun?Prof. Edoh shared a bunch of notes from a screening-with-the-director at MIT, and apparently the Kenya Film Classification Board was willing to un-ban the film if it had had a *less* hopeful ending.
We need to show images of Africans who are not dying, not in need of saving and living a joyous, thriving African life.
Prof. Edoh also said the soundtrack of the film is entirely African women -- primarily Kenyan, but one Namibian.
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Date: 2019-05-16 11:17 pm (UTC)Ah, fascinating! I'd been watching with my fingers over my eyes, metaphorically, dreading terrible things because of all the warnings Kena saw and heard. So was pleased that things trended at least somewhat up after that breaking point. With the ambiguity of the last shot for viewers to debate.
Thank you again for sharing your notes on the post-movie talk!
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Date: 2019-05-17 11:34 am (UTC)