Uganda film festival winds up in style

The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has scored a theoretical coup, becoming the mother of the first ever film festival in Uganda dubbed ‘The Uganda Film Festival’ which commenced on Monday, August 26. The festival, which ended on August 29, attracted actors from all walks of life with household names like Abbey Mukiibi and Patrick Mujuka standing out prominent among the guests.

“Uganda’s film industry hailing from as early as 1963 has faced major setbacks because of lack of morale, and we are set to bring a new vibe of our local film industry,” says Isaac Mulindwa, one of the organisers.

Purpose of the festival
In a bid to improve the sector of the art, UCC has brought together Ugandan films of different genres from those with melancholic themes to love and romance then comedy, martial arts as well as punctuated cultural movies offering them public exposure. The venues of the festival were quite laid-back with a charming ambience accommodating all classes of people. These were the National Theatre, Cineplex Cinemas and Serena Hotel Gardens. All events were free to the public, except for two cocktails that required invites.

Day one
To commemorate this grand unveiling of the festival, Monday evening was a star spangled adaptation of a cinema at the Serena Hotel Gardens.
Under the theme “Kings and Queens”, actors and actresses chosen to be the faces of Uganda’s film franchise matched into the venue clad in bark cloth tailored outfits to depict the sense of belonging. Among the notable faces was Dianiella Kahunde known for her role as Annette in The hostel series.

Later that evening was a documentary showing the exodus of the film and television craze in Uganda. The documentary gives insights into the ups and downs of our movie industry and also focuses on ways in which we can achieve a well-established industry. Most contributors to the documentary are people who acted during the colonial times like Samuel Bbosa, who also shared what went on then. It also addresses the influx of Nigerian film and how movie warriors like Ashraf Semwogerere broke the ice to become dominant faces of Uganda’s movies.

Day Two
At the National Theatre, people felt the real essence of the festival with a film exhibition. Tuesday was tagged as the day to discuss production of movies. These sessions were graced by experienced movie directors and producers from Nigeria, Africa’s film guru. Different from a debut of musical concerts characterised with overwhelming numbers, the turn up at the venue was low. During the interactions with the guest speakers and audience, film producers shared experiences on how to work with proper lighting and shooting films in recommended angles.
They were also taught how to design covers and trailers for their movies.

“We called together producers from all over the country to learn and apply skills that they are acquiring from this programme,” says Gerald Sserunjogi, a media attaché from the Uganda Film Producers’ Association.

More importantly that day was a lecture on copyright law and how it is going to be applied by officials from the Uganda Registration Services Bureau and Media council. Copyright will give the producers full ownership of their products, however, this will come with a price. For the media council, a producer is meant to pay between Shs50,000 and Shs60,000 while one pays about Shs500,000 to the Uganda national bureau. This was however protested for it was deemed to be high.

According to Sserunjogi, the government is trying its best to reduce costs to boost Uganda’s film industry, but the pricing by the bureau depends on the concept and script of the movie. A movie with a short script and basic concept like a theatre staged play would cost less than a movie shot in different places.

At the same time vans were moving around different major towns around the country and popular suburbs selling the different local movies while Cineplex Oasis Mall showed Ugandan movies throughout the day.

Day three
Since the Uganda film has endured significant criticism of its programming and structures by journalists and some actors, day three solely addressed national distribution of the movies.
The distribution structure of the industry offers mileage to the local products. It includes movie vendors and film library attendants. They addressed benefits of selling Ugandan movies and issues concerning piracy.

At the exhibition, one realises that Uganda film buffs and wears its cineliteracy lightly but film is an opportunity for its audience, as well as characters, to soar into the realms of fancy, leaving the real world dangling miles below.