André Tomonari and Gui Boucault | The Only Gay in Nigeria / 2018

suddenly becoming the one at who everyone wanted to throw a stone

by Douglas Messerli

 

André Tomonari and Gui Boucault (directors) The Only Gay in Nigeria / 2018 [4 minutes]

 

It might be hard to imagine that a mini-documentary of only 4 minutes could be an important work, but in the case of The Only Gay in Nigeria it has come to stand for much more given that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in that country face imprisonment for up to 14 years for any such sexual activity, and have no legal rights so that violence against them by others is frequent. Same sex relationships, even without sex, are illegal and in the 12 northern states is punishable under Shari’a law by stoning.

     Early in his career Bisi Alimi was an anti-gay prosthelytizer, who preached hell and damnation to all LGBT individuals. But later Bisi became the first Nigerian to come out on national TV, coming to represent, as he humorously proposes, “The only gay in Nigeria,” becoming the de facto voice of Nigerian gays.

     Brazilian director Gui Boucault “stumbled upon the text of Bisi’s story at the Bisi Alimi Foundation site, and upon reading it we were really impacted, inspired, and at the same time deeply saddened.”

     Contacting him in order the hear his full story and get to know him, they discovered, that despite the seriousness and sometimes horror of his stories, that he was nonetheless “a joyful fellow.” Boucault and co-director André Tomonari recorded his voice in London, animating it with images that involved him “talking to the camera, smiling, thinking and reacting to his own words,” using lighter colored images that reflected his own personality rather that the dark messages behind his words.

      Bisi explains that he grew up in a very conservative Christian family, and by the time he was 17 he went through an exorcism in an attempt to cure his sexual feelings, which led, he admits, to his first suicide attempt.

      In Lagos, he recalls, life was fun for gay men, going to underground parties on weekends, but also very dangerous. And from Monday to Friday they each had pretend that they were like every other boy in Nigerian society, “but the next weekend we are back at the party!”

 

      In 2003 Bisi began acting in the successful series Roses and Thorns in which he played the son of a very rich family in which he was in love with the housemaid. Bisi became famous for the role, recognized by many Nigerians even on the street. A national news organization, Dawn, however had investigated his love life and were about to break the story that the beloved star had a secret.

      A year before that his university magazine had already outed him which had forced him to deny it, acquire a girlfriend, and cut off relations with several of his gay friends, and, as he describes it, “trying to escape the many traps that were set for me.” Finally, he realized that he was going to spending the rest of his life defending that he was not gay.

      He called the producer of Nigeria’s major talk show and agreed to come on the show, feeling that if anyone were going to reveal his private life he had to be himself. The talk show asked numerous important questions: “Can somebody be born gay?” “Is it a life style?” “Is it not a choice?” and “What is his mission?”

      Finally, Bisi fully spoke out for a place in Africa where no one was discriminated against for their sexuality. He had expected an outcry but not that it would be as painful as it was. He was immediately cut off from his career, his noted character killed off. “Within 24 hours I went from being the sweetheart of the national to someone who everyone wanted to throw a stone at.” He was beaten up many times.

       He was arrested several times, and “It was becoming obvious that being in Nigeria wouldn’t be a good idea, but I wasn’t ready to leave the country.” But then his home was broken into, he was tortured and beaten by a group of men. Rescued he reported the incident to the police only to be arrested for using his house as a place to train young men to become gay. “And that’s why I ran away from Nigeria.”

       He admits he lost a great many things, including friends. And he became refugee. As so many refugees for various kinds of hate and bigotry have had to do for centuries, he had to start all over again. But if he has suffered, he argues, his situation has helped to create a generation of fearless LGBT people in Nigeria.

      When the President of Nigeria claimed that there were no gays in Nigeria, Bisi had proven to all that there was at least one.

      As The Advocate reports: “Now Alimi works as an LGBTQ activist, and his advocacy group, the Bisi Alimi Foundation, focuses on advocating ‘for the rights and dignity of LGBT people in Nigeria’ and strives toward ‘Taking people from invisibility to visibility.’

       The important short film is another of the crucial documents missing from Amazon’s Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and is not listed on Letterboxd; other than a few reviews such as the ones in The Advocate and PinkNews, very little has been written about the film and the others regarding Bisi Alimi.

 

Los Angeles, October 28, 2023

Reprinted from World Cinema Review (October 2023).