Trailer for Kenyan lesbian romance ‘Rafiki’ from Wanuri Kahui premiering at the Cannes Film Festival

This is your first look at the stunning trailer for Wanuri Kahui’s groundbreaking lesbian romance Rafiki.

Stunning in its beauty and vivid color, Rafiki (Friend) is the first film from Kenya to ever screen at the Cannes Film Festival. It will premiere there next month in the Un Certain Regard section (which is rich with female and LGBTQ films) where it’s eligible for the Queer Palm. The 2018 Cannes Film Festival runs May 8-19.

The official synopsis:

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]“Kena and Ziki long for something more. Despite the political rivalry between their families, the girls resist and remain close friends, supporting each other to pursue their dreams in a conservative society. When love blossoms between them, the two girls will be forced to choose between happiness and safety.”[/box]

Rafiki is inspired by the 2007 Caine Prize winner, ‘Jambula Tree’ by Monica Arac de Nyeko, a coming of age story about two girls in love, set in Uganda. Kahui says “Rafiki is a story about all that is good and difficult about being in love, so that for those fortunate moments we are lifted above our prejudices and make ourselves ready for “the work for which all other work is but preparation.”

Rafiki is Kahiu’s second feature film, following her 2009 drama From a Whisper, which won Best Feature at the Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival. Her 2010 sci-fi short film Pumzi was a Venice Film Festival prize winner.

Here is the trailer, first revealed by IndieWire.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

Latest posts by Erik Anderson (see all)

• 2025 Oscar Predictions: SUPPORTING ACTOR (November) - November 21, 2024
• 2025 Oscars: Eligibility Lists for Animated Feature, Documentary Feature and International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards - November 21, 2024
• Nava Mau, Sean Wang Among 2024 BAFTA Breakthroughs Championing New ‘Must-Watch’ Creatives - November 21, 2024