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Linda Dinah: A rising star in sound design
Linda Dinah is the 2025 recipient of the Best Sound Designer Award at the Women in Film Awards in Kenya, PHOTO/ ANDREW KAGGWA
What you need to know:
- Sound design is not glamorous-- not in the way red carpets or camera flashes are. It is technical. It is underappreciated. But Linda Dinah is not here for glam.
- She is here to do it in one of the most competitive ways. She is the 2025 recipient of the Best Sound Designer Award at the Women in Film Awards.
When Linda Dinah remembers her grandfather, the Rev Richard Baguma, she does not just see a man. She hears a voice- deep, deliberate, and draped in wisdom. “He was great storyteller that sitting around him, we were not just listening, we were inside the story, living every word,” she recounts. It is no surprise, then, that sound became her muse. Today, that childhood enchantment has come full circle. Linda Dinah is the 2025 recipient of the Best Sound Designer Award at the Women in Film Awards in Kenya, a recognition that echoes far beyond applause.
It is a testament to how roots can grow into resonant legacies. Sound design is not glamorous--- at least not in the way red carpets or camera flashes are. It is technical. It is underappreciated. And it is predominantly male. But Linda is not here for glam. She is here to do it in one of the most competitive creative industries in East Africa.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and Film at Makerere University, her foray into the professional world began at Church of Uganda Family TV, where she worked for a year. But something felt off. “TV felt repetitive- you are doing the same thing every day. News is news,” she says, shrugging. It was the art and unpredictability of film that called her spirit. “Film is diverse. I knew I needed more.”
Her breakthrough came when she applied for the prestigious Multichoice Factory 2024 cohort, a highly competitive East African initiative with only four slots for Ugandans. Linda applied with a focus on sound recording and design--- a bold move for a young woman in such a technical domain.
“They took me because I was a girl interested in sound,” she says. From that moment, her path shifted. She spent months in Kenya, recording location sound and working in post-production on large-scale productions, rubbing shoulders with some of the region’s most acclaimed film-makers. When she was nominated for the Women in Film Awards, she did not expect to win. But she did.
“When I came back home, the story had changed,” she recalls. “Suddenly people were looking for me. I was receiving calls, messages, even celebrities were congratulating me!”
It was the turning point, not just in her career, but in how she saw herself. The young woman who once secretly applied to Makerere behind her parents’ backs had now carved a name into the East African soundscape. Her love affair with sound and storytelling was not an academic accident. The true spark, however, was lit long before school uniforms and university halls- back when she sat at the feet of the Rev Richard Baguma, her grandfather and the “wise man of Tooro.”
He would not just speak; he would perform, animate, dramatise. “He could write and tell stories so vividly you thought you were watching a film,” she says. “He added actions to his voice.”
That childhood magic is what Linda tries to bottle in every film project she touches. Sound isn’t just filler, it’s a portal. “I kept wondering: if I can hear these stories in my head so clearly, what if I combine sound and visuals?” She is not alone on this journey. She is quick to credit the men who stood by her, not as saviours, but as supporters.
“Agola Simon,” she says, naming her constant companion through the programme, “held my hand the whole of last year. I dedicate this award to him. There is nothing I did that he didn’t guide me through.” Then there is Adnan Ssenkumba, the man who first mentored her during university internship. “He’s a pillar in sound. Most young people in sound have passed through his hands.” She also finds inspiration in peers like Isiko, whose success at awards ceremonies pushed her to believe, “If he can do this, so can I.”
The young filmmaker is already plotting her next narrative. One of her upcoming short films is based on a hilarious and poignant family story about a cousin who used to steal mandazis from his mother. One day, she imagines, the mother swaps them with stones.
“Imagine his face when he opens his bag at school expecting food,” she chuckles. It’s not just about entertainment. It’s about relatability. “I want to tell stories that are next of kin to me--- African stories, from my kingdom heritage, from my ancestors. I don’t want to use my skills to tell stories that aren’t mine.” Linda’s final word is clear: “To all women, never fear technical departments. Don’t be afraid to compete with men.
Even when they send you to ‘bring this and that,’ use it to learn. Look for someone to hold your hand. That’s how you grow.” She’s living proof that storytelling doesn’t always begin with a pen or a camera. Sometimes, it begins with a voice, an attentive ear, and a heart full of imagination. She’s just getting started- with a mic in hand, a story on her lips, and a world ready to listen.
