Filmmaker Seyi Adebanjo self-identifies as a “queer gender-non-conforming Nigerian media artist.” Here, according to press notes, Adebanjo attempts “to connect with Òrì?à tradition, or African God/dess tradition, and the powerful legacy of the filmmaker's great grandmother, Chief Moloran Ìyá ?l?´ya.” Whether that goal is actually accomplished is difficult to determine, as this documentary is mostly a hodgepodge of observations on homophobia in contemporary Nigeria and a subjective consideration of a traditional Nigerian culture that purportedly once looked beyond the rigidity of gender parameters. Adebanjo blames the current anti-LGBT social and political attitudes on the toxic influences of Western Christian philosophies (no mention is made of the anti-LGBT attitudes in Nigerian's Islamic population). Regarding the indigenous Yorùbá spirituality that shapes the filmmaker's family history, the film offers an incomplete accounting of this aspect of Nigerian culture in general and its gender politics in particular. At times, it is hard to decipher just what is happening onscreen, as Adebanjo's narration seems to be describing something different from what is being captured by the camera. A confusing documentary, this is not a necessary purchase. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)
Oya: Something Happened on the Way to West Africa!
(2015) 30 min. DVD: $80: public libraries; $350: colleges & universities. DRA. Third World Newsreel. PPR. Volume 32, Issue 1
Oya: Something Happened on the Way to West Africa!
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