Two unclad women lie in bed, stroking each other’s hair and
talking about coming out to their parents in Nigeria, where they could be
jailed for 14 years for having a lesbian relationship.
The trailer for Nigeria’s first lesbian feature film, “Ife”
– which means love in the Yoruba language – has been watched thousands of times
since it was uploaded to YouTube in July, with viewers commenting on their
excitement over its release.
“In Nigeria, there has never been a film like ‘Ife’,” said
its producer Pamela Adie, one of Nigeria’s most prominent LGBT+ activists, who
has been a World Economic Forum speaker and won recognition from the Obama
Foundation as a young African leader.
“No film has had the impact it
will have, or already has in Nigeria … The reception to the poster and the
trailer has been mad. We expect that it will be madder when the full film is
released,” the 36-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Watch the trailer:
https://youtu.be/uZeGMw_urCU
Nigeria is a deeply religious
country, where millions reject homosexuality as a corrupting Western import.
LGBT+ people usually meet in secret or online as living openly risks stigma,
family rejection or even stoning under Sharia law in the north.
A 2014 law criminalising gay
relationships is being used to prosecute 47 men for same-sex public displays of
affection, after Nigerian police raided in 2018 what they said was a gay club.
The men said it was a birthday party..
But LGBT+ Africans are growing
increasingly vocal and visible, with the internet providing a space for
gay-friendly films, talk shows and websites, which campaigners say are
encouraging greater tolerance among younger generations.
As the government’s film board
might not approve “Ife” for distribution in Nigeria, Adie said she plans to
release it on an online on-demand platform later this year.
“Anyone who wants to watch will
be able to do so from anywhere in the world,” she said, declining to give
further details.
Kenya banned its first lesbian
feature film “Rafiki” for promoting homosexuality in 2018, despite it being the
East African nation’s first film to premiere at the Cannes film festival.
DEMON OF HOMOSEXUALITY
Arts and entertainment are major
cultural exports for Nigeria. Its multibillion dollar film industry, Nollywood,
is famed for its lavish tales of romance and witchcraft, which it churns out at
a rate second only to India’s Bollywood.
In most Nollywood films, LGBT+
characters are mentally ill or possessed. Spiritual leaders try to deliver them
from the ‘demon of homosexuality’ before their sexual orientation destroys the
lives of everyone around them.
The advocacy group TIERS has
produced several popular LGBT+ films and TV series, such as the award-winning
male teenage love story “We Don’t Live Here Anymore” by renowned Nigerian
filmmaker Tope Oshin.
It believes this has contributed
to a softening of attitudes among Nigerians towards the LGBT+ community. In its
latest poll, it found that 30% of Nigerians said they would accept a gay family
member in 2019, up from 11% in 2011.
Adie sees the media as a key
force in changing hearts and minds.
After going to university in the
United States, she returned home to Nigeria to work as a campaigns manager for
All Out, a U.S.-headquartered LGBT+ rights group.
A high point of her job was
leading a successful campaign to ban homophobic U.S. pastor Steven Anderson
from visiting South Africa in 2016, with more than 50,000 people signing an All
Out petition denouncing his hate speech.
She went on to found The Equality
Hub in 2017 to promote the rights of lesbian and bisexual women and released a
documentary film “Under the Rainbow” last year about her struggles as a lesbian
in Nigeria.
In the documentary, she describes
how her mother rejected her when she came out in 2011 and tried to ‘cure’ her
with a drink made by a prophetess who said that Adie’s family were under
spiritual attack.
“I was still married at the time
that I came out of the closet so it was a very difficult time,” Adie said in
the film, which was produced by The Equality Hub.
“It was the most depressing and
the lowest point of my whole life.”
By making Nigeria’s first lesbian
love story, she hopes she can help other women struggling with their sexuality.
“Every time there is a film made
that centres LGBTQ people, it would always be about gay men,” she said.
“This is one for us … it will
bring immense joy to the hearts of many of us who would be seeing people like
us centred in a Nigerian film for the first time.”
Adie believes “Ife” will help
combat homophobia by showing how Ife and Adaora’s love struggles in the face of
pressure from their families and wider society.
“We also hope it will leave
others feeling tender, knowing that love is love, and … able to see the real
effects of prejudice and homophobia in the lives of LGBTQ people,” she said.
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