Peter Murimi Works to Validate Kenya’s LGBTQ+ Community in “I Am Samuel”
By GL Harris, Bloger in residence
The opening of Peter Murimi’s documentary, I am Samuel, finds two young people Alex and Samuel holding hands while walking through the beautiful Karura forest, in northern Nairobi, Kenya. The tranquil and lush forest with waterfalls and verdant nature seems the perfect setting for a nascent love story. “We belong together,” says Samuel.
“It was shot on a Sunday morning for over three hours. They were having a good time. It was really important to try to show it. The idea that you can find love, find happiness. It was a celebration of their resilience,” Murimi said.
The film is part of the LGBTQ+ film showcase of the 29th annual African Diaspora International Film Festival and will run December 1-4, 2021, as an online screening.
While efforts to show the developing relationship between the two young men is painstakingly established, an early scene shows another young man violently kicked, punched and brutalized in the middle of a street by a gang of men who have torn off his clothes. “Is he a man? Kill him. Kill him,” shouts one attacker. The man survived the attack but the incident is a sobering reminder of the real danger faced by gay men and women in Kenya. “That’s my friend who is being attacked,” Alex quietly states.
For Murimi, telling the story was partly in response to a friend who was dealing with the issue of coming out to his family. “In my head I wanted to tell a story, the parents would relate to.” Coming out to his family is an emotional process for Samuel. His parents want him to marry. He brings Alex home but the family only sees him as a friend, at first. The constitution of Kenya prohibits homosexuality, under penal code 165, and it is considered a felony, punishable by 14 years of imprisonment.
As the story unfolds, it becomes clear how important family is to Samuel. His father Redon is a farmer in Western Kenya. We see him tilling the land with manual tools and his bare hands. His mother Rebecca clears the land, working alongside her husband. This seems very far away from the big city where Sam coaches a youth netball team and enjoys spending time with his boyfriend.
“LGBTQ community has been muted and censored. The film is a validation for them”
The struggle to survive is unceasing as his parents continually work and harvest corn for their family farm. Among scenes of rural congregants in worship or led by his father, the local pastor, in a river baptism, one feels the heaviness of tradition. This way of life is connected to the land, and the desire for their son to marry is tied to his responsibility to help his ailing and aging parents. Redon’s word is law and his strong Christian identity leave no options for his son.
The film shares the young man’s journey of self-discovery from feeling, “there was no one like me in my family, my village, my whole country.”
After leaving home, Samuel makes new friends and finds internet in the city, “that’s when I learned we are very, very many.”
The documentary was filmed over a period of five years in order to build trust with the family and friends involved in sharing their story. The director wanted to offer an intimate coming out story in a country where religion and family are tightly bound.
I am Samuel offers a poignant glimpse of a young man who steps outside of tradition and becomes openly gay. There are few stories like this that are documented in Kenya, said Murimi, who wanted the film to serve as a historical document. The film has also been banned by the Kenyan government.
“LGBTQ community has been muted and censored. The film is a validation for them,” he said. “There is a message that there are queer men and women amongst us.”
I Am Samuel
Directed by Peter Murimi, Kenya, 2021, 70 minutes, documentary, Swahili with English subtitles