At the news of the ban, award-winning producer of the film, Peter Murimi expressed his disappointment with the move saying that he had hoped the film would allow for constructive dialogue about LGBTQ+ rights in Kenya.
"The film demonstrates how much we have in common. We all fall in love, we all contend with family expectations, the main difference is that Samuel, our main character had to reckon with homophobia and violence,” he said.
Many people came out to protest the ban of the film in Kenya with a Twitter trend with the hashtag #IAMSAMUEL and #KFCBbansgayfilm trending for several days on the platform.
International rights group Human rights watch also came out to dismiss the move by the regulatory board saying that censorship will not silence the LGBT community in Kenya.
“KFCB may want to silence them with flimsy claims that reduce Samuel and his partner Alex’s rich relationship to a ‘same-sex agenda’ but it will not succeed; censorship rarely does,” read an article on their website.
The rights group said that Samuel's story will be seen by Kenyans who will make up their own minds.
“In trying to force on the blinders to deny LGBT people’s existence and rights, KFCB is on the wrong side of history,” it concluded.
The film will be available to stream across Africa and in the United States and the United Kingdom on Thursday.
“The film is to be distributed across Africa by AfriDocs, a South African platform and will continue to be available for African audiences to watch for free on the platform’s website,” read the statement released by the team behind the film.
Viewers in the United States and the United Kingdom can watch I Am Samuel on iTunes.
Wema Sepetu- I don't read comments on my socials