Ronnie Vitalia is a Sudanese Black feminist and curator of Afro Queer Voices, a programme amplifying African LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and their stories. She combines art, writing, and advocacy to center Black queer visibility and foster dialogue on intersectionality, resistance, and belonging across African and diasporic contexts.
Ronnie Vitalia
Ronnie Vitalia participated in “Greatest” Short Films of All Time 2025, a first-ever poll of its kind as a collective love letter to the art of short-form moving image. yanco and Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, in collaboration with Talking Shorts, invited filmmakers, curators, distributors, critics, and scholars worldwide to nominate 10 audiovisual works under sixty minutes that they personally consider the “greatest” of all time. This was Ronnie Vitalia’s submission:
This initiative is vital in reshaping how we recognize short films globally. I hope it continues to embrace voices from the margins—particularly Black and African queer storytellers who redefine cinematic language and liberation.
— Ronnie Vitalia| Movie | Original Title | Director | Country | Year | Duration | |
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| Ìfé | Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim | Nigeria | 2020 | 38’ | ||
A tender, revolutionary Nigerian lesbian love story that reclaims queer intimacy from silence. |
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| Country Love | Wapah Kelechi Ezeigwe | Nigeria | 2020 | 45’ | ||
A moving portrait of gay love and defiance, capturing the emotional cost of visibility in Nigeria. |
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| Reluctantly Queer | Akosua Adoma Owusu | Ghana | 2016 | 8’ | ||
A poetic letter-film bridging continents through Black queer longing and self-interrogation. |
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| Mjita Wami | Anathi Siyungu | South Africa | 2023 | 30’ | ||
Queer joy as resistance—celebrating chosen families and the tenderness of South African love. |
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| Forbidden Fruit | Sue Maluwa Bruce, Beate Kunath, Yvonne Zückmantel | Zimbabwe, Germany | 2000 | 30’ | ||
A pioneering Southern African lesbian story of faith, exile, and resilience across cultures. |
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| Difficult Love | Zanele Muholi | South Africa | 2010 | 47’ | ||
Muholi’s self-portrait documentary that transforms visibility into activism and community power. |
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| Unspoken | Sunny King | United Kingdom, Nigeria | 2012 | 10’ | ||
A quiet meditation on desire and silence—capturing the tension of love unspoken in conservative spaces. |
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| Seventeen | Fasséry Kamissoko | Mali | 2016 | 5’ | ||
A lyrical snapshot of queer adolescence and self-realization within Francophone Africa. |
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| Umunthu | Mwizalero Nyirenda | Malawi | 2013 | 30’ | ||
A compassionate documentary aligning queer rights with African philosophies of humanity and belonging. |
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| How Not to Date While Trans | Nyala Moon | USA | 2022 | 14’ | ||
A witty, heartfelt short that celebrates trans Black womanhood and the humor of everyday survival. |
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