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There’s a popular myth that for LGBTQ+ people, the process of coming out involves making a single, brave declaration to loved ones who, for good or ill, immediately acknowledge the reality of the situation. For many people, however, it doesn’t work that way. Often a family will already know, and the individual in question will know that they know, but nobody will be willing to talk about it. Everything becomes about keeping up appearances – any number of behaviours deemed inappropriate might be tacitly accepted as long as they’re kept quiet, but accompanying emotions are not taken seriously and honesty is right out.

Karim (Fahd Larhzaoui) is sick of living like that. His partner Kofi (Emmanuel Boafo) is still more frustrated by it, having left his own family behind in order to live openly as a gay man. Karim doesn’t want to do the same. The love of the film’s title.

Fahd Larhzaoui and Emmanuel Ohene Boafo in The Love (El Houb) Photo: courtesy of Shariff Nasr

What do you do if your family refuses to accept your sexuality, or tells you that you ought to keep it secret? Is there a way of forcing conversation to happen? And how can that be complicated by religion and the additional pressures of life in small communities? Shariff Nasr’s The Love (El Houb), which is screening as part of Newfest 2022, sees its hero Karim (Fahd Larhzaoui) literally shut himself in a closet in the family home, refusing to leave it until his parents are willing to talk. What follows blends elements of comedy and tragedy as flashbacks address issues in his past and everyone in the household wrestles with complicated emotions.

Shariff Nasr Photo: Curly X Straight

“The idea for the film came when I was visiting family,” he tells me when...