My Friend Fela explores the life of legendary Nigerian musician Fela Kuti from the perspective of his long-time friend Carlos Moore. Locating Fela’s story firmly within the Black Consciousness movement, the film follows him from his first travels to London and New York – where he was confronted with his own blackness and African identity for the first time – to his ascent as one of the planet’s most acclaimed musical talents, and his eventual death in 1997. As the documentary unfolds, we learn about the many influences that shaped Fela’s extraordinary life, from his relationship with his mother to his numerous and problematic relationships with women to his mutually influential encounters with seminal African-American figures. The resulting film is both a portrait of a remarkable man and a tribute to the Pan-African generation.

This documentary contains verbal accounts of violence and sexual violence that may be disturbing to sensitive viewers.