Uganda: Film on LGBT ‘outings’ heads to U.S. screening
Philadelphia film/video festival selects ‘Outed: The Painful Reality’
The Ugandan film “Outed: The Painful Reality” has been selected for this year’s qFLIX film and video festival in Philadelphia.
The qFLIX festival, founded last year, is the successor to the QFest festival, which presented American and international lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and queer independent film in the American state of Pennsylvania from 1995 onward.
“Outed,” by Ugandan film director Hassan Kamoga, also known as Miracle, is a drama about LGBT people who are killed after newspapers label them publicly as gay, as happened by activist David Kato in 2011. Tabloids in Uganda and Kenya continue that practice to this day. (For the most recent example, see the article “Lesbians targeted by Ugandan tabloid” of June 1, 2015.)
The film had its Ugandan premiere in February.
“I started doing research for this film in 2011 but didn’t get the courage to bring it to life until last year when one of my gay friends was brutally murdered by a mob after he was outed by one of the tabloids,” Kamoga told an interviewer.
“We hope this will generate some fresh intellectual debate about the general status of gay people in Uganda, particularly about the role of media in escalating their plight,” Kamoga said.
The film project was difficult, because many Ugandans did not want to be associated with what was seen as a “gay film.” Kamoga had to keep the production process secret, and many actors and associates still pulled out because they feared for their own safety.
The film was made on a shoe-string budget of under 10 million Ugandan shillings (about US $3,400).
For more information, read the article about “Outed” in The Critic or on the Denis Nzioka website.
Related articles
- Lesbians targeted by Ugandan tabloid, Kenyan school (76crimes.com)
- Ugandan film focuses on fatal effects of anti-gay media (76crimes.com)
- Outing of gays inspires bold Ugandan film (The Critic)
- Here we go again: Uganda tabloid lists alleged gays (76crimes.com)
- ‘God Loves Uganda’ on TV, DVD today in U.S., Canada (76crimes.com)
- Voice from Uganda: ‘They don’t think gays are people.’ (76crimes.com)
- How to stir up anti-gay violence, Ugandan style (76crimes.com)
- Archive of this blog’s articles about “Call Me Kuchu”
- Archive of this blog’s articles about “God Loves Uganda”
I am Denmark, I wish the film makes it festivals here.
Reblogged this on JerBear's Queer World News, Views & More From The City Different – Santa Fe, NM and commented:
Being outed in Uganda is a whole lot more dangerous then being outed in countries where LGBTQIA people are more likely to be accepted…
Such stupid films should not be screened in Uganda. We don’t need gays.