by ALEXANDRA MARIE DANIELS
When I learned the principal character in the film Call Me Kuchu is the slain human rights activist David Kato, I felt a sense of relief. Stories come and go in the news media and then most often are forgotten. When news is no longer breaking, a good documentary film has the power to endure.
Call Me Kuchu is Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall’s courageous documentary of human rights violations against the LGBT people of Uganda. Recognized in Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2012, Fairfax Wright and Zouhali-Worrall have created an intimate, character-driven portrait of Ugandan LGBT activist David Kato and the individuals who risk their lives to stand up to proposed anti-homosexuality legislation and violence toward the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender (kuchu) community. The success of Call Me Kuchu is that we, as viewers, experience the film’s characters on a deeply human level so that their fight becomes our fight too.
Call Me Kuchu premiered at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival and has since screened at more than 100 film festivals. With theatrical distribution in Germany and the UK, Call Me Kuchu arrives in American theaters this week. When Call Me Kuchu screened at the Human Right’s Film Festival in New York City, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon stated on behalf of the film, “I take every opportunity to push leaders to listen and to act. But I am conscious that the hardest work is done by local activists like those you will see in this film.”
Fairfax Wright and Zouhali-Worrall’s film is the story of these activists. They are the few who have dared to step out of the shadows and stand up despite violence and proposed legislation that could have them killed for being who they are. In activist David Kato’s own words, “if we keep on hiding, they will say we’re not here.” Call Me Kuchu is an invitation to meet these activists, as human beings and as individuals. We also meet Bishop Senyonjo, a tireless advocate and supporter of the Ugandan LGBT community. Despite his expulsion from the Anglican Church, he maintains his theological understanding that “we are all one” and continues to fight for human rights.