For a second year running, the Sundance Film Festival is coming to London, with the event running at the 02 from April 24th-28th. Amongst the various film screenings, music events, panels and other things going on, there is some gay-interest, most notably the UK premiere screenings of God Loves Uganda, by director Roger Ross Williams.
The documentary, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, is a look at how the impetus for the much of the extreme anti-gay animus in Uganda comes from Christian fundamentalist American preachers, who head to Africa and whip up hatred there.
There certainly are a lot of anti-gay issues in parts of Africa, most notably the periodic re-emergence of a proposed Ugandan law that would allow the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’ (although it’s never been clear what that would be classed as). It’s the reasons behind why that law emerged that God Love Uganda concentrates on.
It’s not just in Uganda there are issues either as, for example, just in the last few days lawmakers in Zambia have made a push to include homosexuality and lesbianism in a list of ‘abominable practices’ included in the county’s new constitution. That’s despite the fact same sex activity is already illegal in Zambia punishable by up to 14 years in prison. (It’s not all bad in Africa though, as South Africa included LGBT protections in its post-apartheid constitution and later legalised same-sex marriage).
In an statement a couple of month ago about the film, Williams said, ‘I thought about following the activists-brave and admirable men and women-who were fighting against these policies [in Uganda]. But I was more curious about the people who, in effect, wanted to kill me. (According to the provisions of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, I could be put to death or imprisoned.) Notably, almost every evangelical I met – American or Ugandan – was polite, agreeable, even charming. Yet I knew that if the bill passed, there would be blood on the streets of Kampala.
‘What explains that contradiction? What explains the murderous rage and ecstatic transcendence? In the well-known trope about Africa, a white man journeys into the heart of darkness and finds the mystery of Africa and its unknowable otherness. I, a black man, made that journey and found – America.’
The UK premiere of God Love Uganda takes place at Sundance London, with screenings on 26th April at 6.00pm, 27th April at 12.00pm and 28th April at 8.45pm. Take a look at the trailer below.
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