‘Veil of Silence’: When LGBTI Nigerians spoke out

“There is nowhere on Earth where it is right not to defend human rights.”
— Trailer for “Veil of Silence”

In the latest episode of the No Strings podcasts, Nigerian filmmaker Habeeb Lawal discusses  “Veil of Silence,” his documentary that presented the voices of LGBTI Nigerians shortly before the country’s harsh anti-gay law went into effect in early 2014.

Lawal’s debut film, “Veil of Silence” was produced in cooperation with the Nigerian LGBTI rights organization The Initiative for Equal Rights, (TIERS).

The film shows a “young group of sexual minorities in Nigeria [who] defy all odds in the pursuit of happiness. In the midst of all, their strength, resilience, vulnerability is brought to fore in this informative and mind-blowing documentary,” in the director’s words. The trailer for the film is available on Vimeo and YouTube.

As podcast host Mike Daemon describes it, the film shows the actual faces of gay Nigerians talking about their very own lives and what it truly means to be gay in Nigeria.

• Directors of “Veil of Silence” and “The Abominable Crime” discuss those films in 2014 at the British Film Institute.
• Highlights from panel discussion about “Veil of Silence” presented by the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office in 2014.