The Pearl of Africa

Divided into six mini-chapters, filmmaker Jonny von Wallström's documentary short is very literally an advocacy piece, leading up to a plug for a website on behalf of his subject. Cleopatra Kambugu is a citizen of Uganda who was born male but now identifies as female. Cleo is undergoing hormone treatments, has a steady (straight male) boyfriend, and looks forward to complete gender reassignment surgery in Thailand that will officially make him a woman. In Uganda, however, LGBT lifestyles are met with open hatred and hostility: the national parliament passes a law criminalizing homosexuality as a punishable offense, and the tabloid newspaper Red Pepper delights in printing the names of known homosexuals. It's only a matter of time before Cleo's own name will appear on such a list. Uganda's ugly policies are the flip side of the English-speaking media's Caitlyn/Bruce fascination—only not receiving remotely as much press coverage. A fine companion documentary to the similarly-themed God Loves Uganda (VL-7/14), this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)