Review by Jax Brown
Witch Prophet in Leilani's Fortune
As a queer disabled person myself I really enjoyed watching Leilani’s Fortune. The 2023 film explores the life and music of queer, Canadian based Ethiopian-Eritrean artist, Ayo Leilani aka Witch Prophet. She rises from obscurity to the verge of an international music breakthrough.
The theme of this year’s The Other Film Festival is Agency. It is a central theme of this documentary. Agency to create your own music on your own terms. Agency to resist a medicalised gaze on your disabled body/mind. Or reclaim and proclaim queer and disability identities. Agency to celebrate your Blak power and excellence. Witch Prophet does all of these things with individuality and flare throughout the film!
Witch Prophet’s songs have won several awards and been nominated for awards alongside the likes of Beyonce! However even with such success, Leilani/ Witch Prophet still faces barriers to breaking through the glass ceiling. Witch Prophet finds herself at the mercy of grant funding to survive and make her music.
Leilani’s agency and self-determination is also evident in the face of the ableism and racism she experiences. This includes when trying to engage with the medical profession. She seeks treatment for her temporal lobe epilepsy where she is not taken seriously by doctors or specialists. Leaning into her own belief system and finding an alternative way forward.
My favourite moment in the film was when she is recounting the first time she saw her future wife (and her producer and DJ), Sun Sun.
‘’I saw this girl walking down the street and I immediately fell in love with her…I chased her down the road but she had already passed, I saw her about a week later and was like ‘its you! I saw you a week ago and I wrote a song for you’ and I sang that song for her and she was like ‘you know, you’re a little bit creepy but I think I love you too’… So don’t listen to what people say, R&B does bring people together and in this case it brought two homos together and I wrote this ‘Super Homo Love Song’.
Rarely, if ever do we get to see queer, blak people with disabilities on our screens. This film is both personal and political, powerful and poignant. As the saying goes, ‘we cant be what we can’t see.’ I hope viewers enjoy this film and find pride, connection and affirmation within it. And enjoy some damn good music as well! Leilani’s Fortune screened as part of the Unstoppable disability program at 2024 Slamdance film festival. It won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2023 InsideOut Film Festival.
Leilani’s Fortune is part of The Other Film Festival’s screening program this year. All films are available for streaming until 16 October via ACMI’s Cinema 3
Jax Brown (they/them) is an esteemed disability LGBTQIA+ rights activist, writer, educator and consultant. Their tireless commitment to LGBTIQA+ disability human rights and advocacy has been recognised with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
Jax views disability as a socio-political issue of intersectional equality, access, and human rights.
