The Radical

THE RADICAL is an intimate portrait of Muhsin Hendricks, a South African man who became the world’s first openly gay imam. Hendricks leads a devoted group of queer muslims, having started an organisation to support the LGBTQ+ community and running a personal empowerment programme that helps Muslims reconcile their sexuality with their faith.

The film provides first-person accounts of being and growing up queer as a South African Muslim in a society caught between the liberalism of its constitution and the conservativeness of its cultures and history. The film chronicles individual journeys to queer acceptance, and the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights across Africa, as a diversity of Muslim people negotiate these tensions.