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Justice Wilfrida Okwany addresses a court session where she temporarily lifted a ban on "Rafiki" - "Friend" in Swahili - at the Mililani Law Courts in Nairobi, Sept. 21, 2018.STRINGER/Reuters

Kenya’s chief film censor is furious. He has ordered his enforcement officers – accompanied by police – to descend on Kenyan cinemas this weekend, patrolling the box offices and checking for any violations of the rules.

The reason for his anger: a court ruling on Friday that lifted the ban on one of Kenya’s most acclaimed films. The movie, Rafiki, has won praise at festivals from Cannes to Toronto. But its gentle lesbian love story has triggered outrage from many Kenyans, including powerful government officials.

The court decision to overturn the ban is “a sad moment and a great insult,” said Ezekiel Mutua, chief executive officer of the Kenya Film Classification Board, the censorship agency that had banned the film in April.

The film, he complained, has “glorified” homosexuality. “The attempt to normalize homosexuality is akin to air-conditioning hell,” he fumed in a statement on Friday.

Following a Kenyan judge’s order to lift the ban, Rafiki will be screened in commercial theatres in Kenya for the next seven days, allowing it to qualify for the foreign-language category of the Academy Awards.

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(From left) Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu, Kenyan actress Samantha Mugatsia and Kenyan actress Sheila Munyiva pose during a photocall for the film "Rafiki" during the 71st Cannes Film Festival, May 09, 2018LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images

In May, it became the first Kenyan film to be screened in competition at the Cannes film festival. It was also shown at the Toronto International Film Festival this month, and it has won support from some of Hollywood’s leading directors and actors. The ban is “ridiculous,” said the head of the Kenyan Film Commission, which is in charge of promoting the country’s films.

“I am not convinced that Kenya is such a weak society whose moral foundation will be shaken by simply watching a film depicting gay themes,” Justice Wilfrida Okwany said in her ruling.

Some Kenyan artists have been forced to flee the country because their work “went against the grain of societal expectations,” she said.

“The undisputed fact is that the gay theme or the practice of homosexuality did not begin with the film Rafiki. … One of the reasons for artistic creativity is to stir society’s conscience even on very vexing topics such as homosexuality.”

The film’s supporters hailed the court ruling as a victory for Kenya’s constitution and free-expression principles. In a religiously conservative country where colonial-era laws still criminalize homosexuality and where opinion polls have revealed widespread intolerance of gay people, the court ruling is seen as a step toward an era of greater freedom and human rights.

But that won’t deter Mr. Mutua and other officials. He vowed to enforce the judge’s decision that only adults will be permitted to see the film. Police and enforcement officers will ensure that the rule is “strictly adhered to,” he said on Twitter on Friday.

He alleged that “foreign organizations” were financing and promoting the film. “Our next target will be these foreigners operating in Kenya to ruin our moral fabric. They should all be deported.”

Rafiki, which means “friend” in Swahili, is a coming-of-age story of two young women in a Nairobi housing estate who begin a romance while enduring homophobia and opposition from their families and community members. It was adapted from a prize-winning short story by Ugandan writer Monica Arac de Nyeko.

The film’s director, Wanuri Kahiu, had launched a court battle to get the ban lifted. “I am crying,” she tweeted on Friday after the decision was issued. “In SUCH joy! Our constitution is STRONG!”

Rafiki was the second African film to be banned this year because of hostility to homosexual themes. An acclaimed South African film, Inxeba (The Wound), was banned in February by the country’s film appeals tribunal, which complained that its scenes of gay sex had no “artistic value” and could “increase tensions in society.”

The South African film had been shortlisted for an Academy Award in the foreign-language category. The filmmakers challenged the ban in court and succeeded in getting the ban lifted. It became one of the most popular South African films of the year.

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