malian filmmaker illustrates the banalization of homophobia in the short film ’17’

Inspired by the normalization of homophobic rhetoric and passivity in the face of violence or discrimination, filmmaker Fasséry Kamissoko’s ’17’ aims to disrupt these harmful stances and negatives locally. Taking time to reflect on the mentalities of those around him in West Africa, Kamissoko’s film raises collective awareness about the range of discrimination men, women, and nonbinary Africans who happen to be gay or queer experience. And to let people with a diversity of thought on the “rightness” of homosexuality see the humanity of other black people they don’t “agree” with. The proingnant drama goes a step further, challenging the actions of less passive Africans who may bare witness to LGBTQ+ discrimination and abuse to answer, what would they do, if anything, to stop it?