The Best Costume Design award winner was Nabakiibi Joanah Jojo and Elgon Label. Photo/Courtesy
Last week, the Uganda Film Festival (UFF), organised by the Uganda Communication Commission was held at the Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology.
The 13th edition of the show, took place after what many would call a challenging year. The film industry has been through a rough time since 2023.
Before that, the industry enjoyed a few good years when MultiChoice Uganda, through their flagships Pearl Magic and Pearl Magic Prime invested a lot of money in the industry.
The investment led to the production of shows such as Sanyu, Prestige, Mama and Me, to reality shows such as The Salvador Show, My Perfect Wedding and Date My Family.
Working for a Pearl Magic-related TV show or feature film was the hottest ticket in the industry.
In fact, by 2022, almost half the local film industry was working for MultiChoice on one project or another.
At the film festivals in 2022 until 2024, more than half of the winning films and the iKon Awards were films commissioned by MultiChoice Uganda.
Sister Dominica Dipio got the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Omumbeja Mariam Ndagire. Photo/Courtesy
Last weekend, half the people who won awards over the last two years could barely make a film, something that created a shortage from Uganda’s would-be big studios.
Production houses such as Swangz Avenue, Louk Out Films, Savannah Moon or Nabwiso Films did not have submissions or nominations. This meant that most of the shortlisted actors and production houses were getting their first nominations.
But the festival still took place. A plush event hosted by Nana Kagga and Ben Mwiine, mainly produced by Cinema Ug with the help of Fenon Productions. In this story, we bring you the good and the bad at the festival. From backdrops, stage design and aesthetics, there is effort. The production of the show and the UFF gala has been improving over the years.
If there is one thing that has been improving the UFF gala over the years, it is the production of the show; from the backdrops, stage design and most of the aesthetics, there is effort. This year the show was mainly produced and overseen by Cinema Ug, a marketing agency whose bias is towards art, especially film and theatre.
They handled a great deal of the promotion, streamlining the event; they did this closely with the technical team from Fenon Productions, who were both responsible for the actual production, sound, stage and lighting, among other things.
From the expansive detailed stage, well positioned streamer screens, it was an event that catered for everyone who was invited.
From the expansive detailed stage, well positioned streamer screens, it was an event that catered for everyone who was invited. Photo/Courtesy
Besides the actual venue for the awards, the surrounding was the other thing that was paid attention to, the blue and white theme to the film production exhibition that was put together.
Time keeping
One thing that has over the years been a crisis at the UFF galas and most local awards is the failure to keep time.
That’s from the time they start; events in this country never start on time and because of that, they end hours late.
Besides starting shows late, with awards in Kampala, the winners are culprits for prolonging events by giving very long speeches and at times showing up with a crowd of people to collect just one trophy.
Filmmakers have been notorious for this; winners for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor; individual awards would show up with a team of 10 people including the producer, director and part of the cast.
This year, the organising team reached out to the nominees, had a meeting and asked nominees to accept awards with a very small team that would not exceed three people and speeches would not exceed a minute.
Exhibition
Most of the times, when shows such as awards take place, there is a lot of focus on the optics with little regard to the art being celebrated.
For the film festival’s big night, there was an exhibition of different stages of production with select production houses showing off their gear.
But one of the best displays was the sound exhibition where different sound studios showcased gear and also gave mini classes on how to record sound. These were engineers such as Andrew Ahuura, Isma Ssemujju and Shantos Ssekitto, among others.
This year, the festival screenings attracted big numbers with a number of screenings sold out days before their d-days.
The bad
The producers of the awards did their best, but situations still got out of hand in terms of speeches. Some filmmakers also went against the original script, attempting to make speeches longer.
Justice for documentary films
For the time the festival has been held, film categories such as short films, documentaries and animations are treated like extras in the show. For instance, for the time films have been screened in cinemas, short films or documentaries have never been exhibited or marketed.
Nkinzi dominated some of the biggest awards, with Rehema Nanfuka winning Best Director, Best Screenplay and Rising Star, among others.
The nearest competitor was Kimote, a film about a father and son row on reviving the craft of making backcloth. Kimote took home Best Makeup, Best Actor and Best Indigenous film, among others.
