Rafiki

Bombastic rap music and playful collage title cards make Rafiki immediately and effortlessly engaging. On her skateboard, teenager Kena (Samantha Mugatsia) flies through the streets of her shabby but colourful neighborhood bustling with life, her smooth journey only interrupted by shots of people working or kids playing, like in a music video. Yet what gives Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu’s film its emotional power is its sensitive core. (Rafiki was banned in its home country for its homosexual content.) Behind the intense palette and relentless rhythm, a careful approach to characters slowly reveals the strength of their feelings as they themselves discover them.