There’s Power in the collar

Vincent Moloi, South Africa, Botswana 2020

75 minutes, Setswana/English with English subtitles

As Botswana awaits a possible landmark judgement from its high court, seeking to decriminalize same sex relations, Chantel, a 27 year old lesbian who’s both a theologian and a queer rights activist, attempts to start her journey to get ordained as a reverend in Botswana’s religiously conservative and homophobic society. However her road to ordination, and the ramifications of the eventual ruling from the high court, causes problems along the way. It is a coming of age film that follows the story of a deeply religious queer young woman, navigating a society that wants to force her to choose between her sexual orientation and her religious denomination – a personal struggle that mirrors the national political struggle, as the human rights organisations of Botswana, seek to repeal the homophobic penal codes in their constitution, challenging Botswana’s conservative national identity which is strongly mixed with its religiosity.