THE PEARL OF AFRICA www.pearlofafrica.tv
About The Movie Uganda, once named THE PEARL OF AFRICA by Winston Churchill for its diversity in ethnicity, gender, flora and fauna. Yet in all this richness it struggles to appreciate this diversity. Enter the life of Cleopatra Kambugu, a 27 year old Ugandan transgender girl, biologically born male in one of the world’s most homophobic places. Determined to prove that there’s more to gender than man and woman, she’s chosen to transition openly. A journey that takes the viewer inside of the closed Ugandan LGBTI-scene, showing a personal love story as well as a struggle for basic human rights.
Watch the Teaser on YouTube http://youtu.be/k3rWADz5eL4
Join my journey with Cleo as she rewrites the story of a transgender woman, not as a disability, not as a psychopathology, not as an inadequacy, or a phase, but as a diversity in our humanity that has for long been shrouded in darkness and misunderstood. - Jonny von Wallstrรถm, Director
Cleopatra Kambugu fled to Kenya after having been ”outed” as a homosexual on the front page of Red Paper, one of Uganda’s major tabloids. Forcing her to live behind closed gate for over a month and within a week, she lost her job and the relationship with several family members It was a week after the bill had passed that the 28-year-old student and activist Cleopatra Kambugu was ”outed” in one of Uganda’s biggest tabloids. On the front of the magazine you could see a picture of her with the title, “How we Became homosexuals.” An article stolen from The Advocate, an American publication that she had co-written the article for. -I officially lost my job and several of my family members abandoned me fearing for their safety, said Cleo. The people who had been”outed” were attacked by mobs and illegally evicted. She was forced into hiding to avoid attacks and possible arrest. - It was a tough time; my mom had to come up with food on the nights so we would have something to eat. People went hungry for days. Unless the attacks reached them, the lack of food and medicine did, she continues.
She saw no other option than to get out of Uganda; fortunately she was offered a job in Kenya at the time. - I decided to move to Nairobi, Kenya. It gave me not only an income but also a sense of security, she said. Today Cleo and her boyfriend lives in Nairobi, their move have given them the opportunity to live more freely. But she still has to be careful to avoid her surroundings noticing her gender identity. Now Cleo wants to share her story to the world in a documentary. - I want to give the Ugandan people human picture of a transgender person, which I hope the documentary will help me to do, said Cleo. She is about to undergo a sexual reassignment surgery, a dream come true to finally become the woman she knows she was born to be. But she’s also hoping to become the first Trans person to be accepted as her true gender identity in Uganda. Help us make this dream come true by donating. Support her in other ways
Buy clothes in our store, all profit goes to Cleo’s surgery. Spread the word on Facebook or Twitter. Change your social media profile image to our badge. Share the film with your friends via email.
Thanks in advance for everything you’ll do to help us with this project! - Jonny von Wallström, Director