By Tom Odula
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) --The first Kenyan feature film to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival has received overwhelming audience support since a court temporarily lifted a ban imposed by censors over the film's gay content, a lawyer said Friday.
"Rafiki" went from being screened once a day in one theater in Nairobi on Sept. 22 to three daily screenings at theaters in three of Kenya's largest cities as of Friday, said Sofia Leteipan, who represents director Wanuri Kahiu.
The court ruled that the film, a love story featuring two women, could be viewed locally for one week to make it eligible for Oscar contention. The ban will resume after Sunday showings.
Ezekiel Mutua, the head of the Kenya Film Classification Board, has said that only "a small portion" of the country's population has seen it.
"There is no market for homosexual movies in Kenya. Is there value for money in making a homosexual movie that will be watched by 300 out of 44 million people?" Mutua said in an interview on Citizen Television earlier in the week.
It is illegal to have same-gender sex in Kenya. Gays and lesbians in many parts of Africa face severe harassment, physical threats and judicial punishment.
Kenya's National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission is currently in court arguing that sections of the penal code violate the constitution and deny basic rights by criminalizing consensual same-sex relations between adults.
Leteipan said that although "Rafiki" in the end wasn't nominated for an Oscar, its screening across Kenya is a "huge win for the articulation of freedom of expression."
She said that after the ban resumes, "we'll still be in court pursuing the original petition to have the ban permanently lifted and strike out provisions of Films and Stage Plays Act which restrict freedom of expression and constrain creativity."
After watching the film, gay activist Immah Reid called it a "well-structured conversation starter for sexuality in Kenya … how gender appears and the violence people who don't conform to gender rules end up going through."
Maureen Nyambura, a university student, said it is progress that "Rafiki" is being seen in a society that often doesn't tolerate different sexualities.
"You don't have to be a woman to fall in love with a man and vice versa. It's time Kenya embraces sexual diversity," she said.
ABC will air 6 additional “Monday Night Football” games starting this week with Bills-Jets
ABC will simulcast six more ESPN "Monday Night Football" games, including Monday's AFC East matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets.
The addition of the six games means ABC will air 17 this season — 14 simulcasts with ESPN (including two playoff games) and three games exclusively on ABC.
The decision to simulcast more games was a joint decision between the NFL and Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC and ESPN.
The other added games are Baltimore at Tampa Bay (Oct. 21), Tampa Bay at Kansas City (Nov. 4), Houston at Dallas (Nov. 18), Baltimore at Los Angeles Chargers (Nov. 25) and New Orleans at Green Bay (Dec. 23).
The only two Mondays the rest of the regular season where ABC will not have a game are Nov. 11 and Dec. 2.
ABC had games all 18 weeks last season due to an agreement with the NFL since there was no new original fall programming due to the Hollywood writers and actors strikes. With more games on network television, "Monday Night Football" averaged 17.36 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, a 29% increase over 2022.
It was the best audience numbers for the league's seminal prime-time package since 2000. The Super Bowl 57 rematch between Philadelphia and Kansas City averaged 29.03 million.
Coming into the season, ABC had eight scheduled simulcasts, including two Saturday Week 18 games and two playoff games, and three exclusive MNF games when there were doubleheaders.
It also continues Disney's move toward putting more sports programming back on ABC. Super Bowl 61 from Los Angeles in 2027 will be on the network and the College Football Playoff championship game will also move to ABC the same year.
More games on ABC will also boost the ratings. Kansas City's 26-13 victory... Read More