Why Is Umunthu: An African Response To Homosexuality?

Mwizalero Nyirenda is a young man, with a head full of ideas, a passion for the camera, social justice and storytelling. With the support of AGHCA and the strong partnership with the US Embassy, Mwizalero put together a courageous short film called “Umunthu – An African response to homosexuality”. Since its debut in 2013, it continues to open the doors of discussion wider, it has challenged the way we think and caused us to re-evaluate the meaning of ‘difference’.

The film Umunthu: an African Response to Homosexuality is a first person documentary by Malawian film maker Mwizalero Nyirenda. To date, Umunthu has had 35 national screenings, 10 international ones and it has won 5 international film festival awards. The film unpacks the controversy
Towards the end of his presidency, the late Mutharika became an outspoken opponent of the rights of LGBT persons. Then his predecessor Joyce Banda took office and suggested the revision of the law that criminalizes homosexuality. However, she almost immediately withdrew her statement, and became vague on the topic in apparent response criticism from her political opposition and the public. Currently President Peter Arthur Mutharika is addressing this issue with the current National and International pressure coming from both
It is more than those things and it is all those things. It is belonging to ‘each other’, sustaining ‘each other ‘it’s believing in that simply because ‘you are’ then ‘I am also’. All over the world it is called something different but the spirit behind it is the same, ‘I am because you are’. It is this universal unifying spirit that AGHCA aims to bring to light by utilizing art as a catalyst for discussion in marginalized communities in Malawi. The Umunthu approach believes that by respecting each other people from all aspects of life can exist together in harmony and this eventually will unite us in conquering health related