Amakula film festival is back

The Amakula International Film Festival is back and will take place at Uganda Museum, in Kampala, between March 16 and 20. The festival has been revived after a three-year hiatus.
It took a break because there was a shift in funding from its main funder, Homes. It is now run under Bayimba Cultural Foundation, under the funding of Doen Foundation. This year’s edition will be the 10th.

According to the new festival director, Faisal Kiwewa, focus will be on the needs of the film industry such as developing film distribution channels and building new audiences for cinema especially those that can actually pay for it. This will also mean introducing cinema to young audiences.
“It is important to have children introduced to cinema at a young age. In 10 years, they will be our audiences,” Kiwewa says.
The quality of movies from both Uganda and abroad are worth looking forward to, including screening of both in-competition and out of competition students and independent films, documentaries, short stories and animations.

This will be in addition to workshops for children and discussions with filmmakers and actors from Uganda, Africa and the rest of the World.
“But the catchy part of it is there will be a five-day drive-in cinema screening where audiences will drive in with their cars and watch films in the comfort of their cars,” he explains. The Amakula International Film Festival aims to contribute to a vibrant local film industry, by broadening access to and developing audiences for quality African film production.

Three Golden Impala Awards will be handed out to honour the Best International Feature Film, Best East Africa Short Film and the Best International Documentary Film.
Some of the competing films include Bala Bala Ssesse, Dar Noir, B’ella, Nadya, Kai, Rastasophical Mood, Agasanduka and Chebet.
The Jury for the 10th edition will have three members, Moses Serugo from Uganda, Ian Masters from UK and a third one yet to be confirmed.

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