Wound actor gets death threats

TENSIONS: DIFFICULT FOR NAKHANE TO VISIT FAMILY

Gay Xhosa actor seeks refuge in London. London

It was the level of hate from his own Xhosa community that took South African gay artist Nakhane by surprise. He never expected to face death threats for playing a man in a same-sex relationship in the movie The Wound, which unfolds in the secret world of a male initiation ceremony – but it was the setting that appeared to anger people the most.

“I know my people because I come from them and I know about the passion they have about protecting this part of the culture,” Nakhane told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in London, where he is presently living.

“But I didn’t know it was going to be as violent as it became.”

The 30-year-old actor, who underwent the month-long Xhosa circumcision ritual at the age of 20, said his own experience was similar to that shown in the film, including having other men make sexual advances on him during the bush retreat.

South Africa is generally regarded as supportive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and is the only African country that has legalised gay marriage. However, being openly gay can be taboo, particularly among traditional communities.

Although The Wound has won awards at film festivals in London, Durban and Palm Springs in the US, it is the dialogue it has sparked around LGBT issues in South Africa that Nakhane is most proud of.

“This film became what it became because of those conversations,” he said. “Suddenly the volcano just [erupted] and it takes the right time, right film, right thing, for it to happen.”

It was only when Nakhane’s life fell apart five years ago that he was finally able to accept he was gay. Homeless and broke, the actor and singer had just released his first music album, a deeply personal account of his life.

Simmering tensions over his film mean it could be years before he can return to visit his family in the Eastern Cape. – Reuters