Kahiu brought the court action after the Kenya Film Classification Board banned Rafiki for “promoting lesbianism”, effectively barring it from the\u00a0Oscars<\/a>\u00a0competition.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Judge Wlfrida Okwany ruled that Rafiki could now be shown to “willing adults only” for seven days, a minimum requirement for submitting feature films for the Academy Awards.<\/p>\n Okwany said that to maintain the ban would deprive Kahiu of “the fame, glory, exposure and opportunity that the Oscar nomination brings a film maker.<\/p>\n “The matter is not for determination on whether homosexuality is right or wrong, moral or immoral, but whether an artist or filmmaker can, in exercising his or her right to freedom of expression and artistic creativity, make a film depicting a gay theme.”<\/p>\n Rafiki made history this year by becoming the first Kenyan movie to be selected for the\u00a0Cannes Film Festival<\/a>. It featured in the “Un Certain Regard” category, earmarked for emerging directors or unexpected or marginal themes.<\/p>\n Kahiu now wants her film to have a shot at the Oscars in February.<\/span><\/p>\n However, the award rules state that a film must “be first publicly exhibited for at least seven consecutive days in a commercial motion picture theatre for the profit of the producer and exhibitor” to enter the competition.<\/p>\n With the deadline of 30 September approaching Kahiu sought \u2013 and won \u2013 a court order in her favour.<\/p>\n