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Out in Africa Film Festival: Take 2 (And Take 3)

I’ve seen two brilliant and thought-provoking documentaries this week at the OIA Gay Film Festival. They were Anyone and Everyone and A Jihad for Love.

Anyone and Everyone tells the stories of the coming-out experiences of a number of gay and lesbian Americans from different walks of life in America. I think it hit home particularly because I believe all GLBT persons have a very real and tangible coming out experience. It is something that, for most people very much defines your life, at least up until the period when you tell your friends and family. You have this deep sense of foreboding within you because you’re never sure how anyone will act and you do indeed fear the worst. Will my parents kick me out? Will my friends reject me? Will people hear about it and tell the rest of the world about it, and then they’ll have a big fat laugh about it?

These might seem like silly considerations, but they are extremely pertinent for most GLBT people. They were pertinent for me, and indeed I was very scared coming out, but actually, there was no need to be scared because, at the end of the day most people continue to accept you as you are, and I think actually start to see you as more of an open person now that you’re being entirely honest with them.

But one’s fears in this regard are not unwarranted, and that’s simply because society is still homophobic and remains ignorant about homosexuality. The film was effective in showing how people have this mental block about homosexuality (and how the church and culture does a very good job of perpetuating this block), and cannot see it as being simply an alternative form of love between two individuals.

This theme came through particularly well in A Jihad for Love, a film about homosexuals in Islam. I think this film was even more depressing than the first because persecution in Islam for being gay takes place often, and gay and lesbian Muslims are routinely ostracised from their communities. A South African gay Iman in the documentary gave an interesting interpretation of the story of Sodom and Gommorah in the Qu’ran. He said that Allah punished the men in this city for molesting the other men in the city, and for doing all the other bad stuff they did, but Allah was not in this regard condeming homosexuality per se. The acts of Sodom and Gommorah were essentially a form of rape and sexual abuse, and it was this that Allah disapproved of. He went on to make the point that homosexuality is an act of love between two individuals, and that since Islam was a religion of love, this should be venerated in society.

The film also took us to other parts of the world. Of particular interest to me was the story of two lesbians in Turkey, who practised Sufism, the more mystical arm of Islam. I got the impression that these two individuals were accepted far more than, say, Muslim men in Iran, because Sufism is more concerned with love between individuals, as well as inner and personal spirituality. I found myself thinking – If Sufism is more accepting of homosexuality, and sees it more as being a spiritual link between two loving individuals, then why can’t other religions see it this way?

The most heart-wrenching aspects I think of the film were how Iranian gay men were forced to seek asylum in Canada because of the fear of persecution back home, and how this really pained these men because they were shunned by their communities and torn apart from their family. Surely doing that is the greater sin?

Anyway, this is one of the images used by the Out in Africa Film Festival. I really love it, mainly because of the Joburg skyline in the background. The boys have Table Mountain as their background.

Out in Africa Film Festival: Take 1

I absolutely love going to gay film festivals (and yes, I use ‘festival’ in the plural because we now have two such festivals in SA – the Pride Film Festival, and the Out in Africa Film Festival). I love going to them because they make me feel like I’m part of the Big Gay World That Does Intelligent And Thought-Provoking Things (BGWTDIAT-PT). But besides that, I like going to them because the movies are generally pretty good, and these days I absolutely refuse to go to dumb movies that have no meaning in the greater scheme of things. So movies like Date Movie – really dumb. Movies like Volver – clever, because they really are pieces of art. Movies like She’s the Man – make you drool because of Channing Tatum. Movies like As it is in Heaven – Excellent because tey make you weep. And movies like Mrs Henderson Presents – Fab because they are, well, fab.

This evening I went with my lovely friends, Robert and CJ to see the movie A Four Letter Word. The movie really revolved around this one rather camp character who was a self-professed slut because every night he would sleep with someone different. But the movie also looked at many other characters, and essentially portrayed their stereotypical personas in relation to the main character (played by Jesse Archer). For me the movie looked at all the stereotypes that exist within the gay community, from the no-strings attached ’slut’ to the YAY-civil-rights… erm… monogomist? And I think it’s all story was how we shouldn’t box ourselves into these stereotypes because we, at the end of the day, our own individual selves. Rather we need to let ourselves shine through and not attach a label to ourselves. And the film directors did through unboxing each character and deconstructing every stereotype they held dear.

It got me thinking into how I am personally as a gay man. Am I a stereotype? And if so, what stereotype do I pander towards? I think if I were to pander towards one, it would be more the YAY-civil-rights monogomist one, who does not believe, or perhaps is to scared to engage in the anonymous sexual stereotype. But I also think I fit into the ‘Worried-Control-Freak’ stereotype who goes into relationships and then freaks out because, as one point was made in the movie, it involves giving up a lot of your ‘ownness’ (for want of a better word) in a favour of an approach that just goes with the flow. Infact I could identify with the particular character in the movie who typified this, and I found myself wishing that I could not because I didn’t actually like the character that much! Definitely something to work on…

Anyway, this below is Jesse Archer, the main character. He is on the far right (dunno who the other ppl are, but I am sure they are lovely friendly people). He was a guest at the festival, and spoke to us for just a little.

I must say – BIG UPs to the organisers of the Out in Africa Film Festival. One can really see how they put their hearts into it, and the result is a well-organised film festival that features some great films – better than the Pride Film Festival in my opinion.

I’m looking forward to seeing A Jihad for Love (a movie about homosexuality in Islam), as well as Anyone and Everyone (South African documentaries relating to homosexuality).

Ok. That is all. Love, me. x

p.s. The feminist diatribe came in handy yesterday during the exam.