From Bricklaying to Film making: a story of success from Uganda.

For four years Isaac Godfrey
Nabwana made and sold bricks in
Kampala’s Wakalinga slum. But
now, thanks to his labours, he is
building what he hopes will become
Uganda’s answer to Nollywood.
By Amy Fallon, Kampala.

“I was selling bricks and from [the
sales] I bought a video [camera]. I
worked very hard to get it,” the
director, producer and writer tells IPS as he gives a tour of his audio and film studios in the slum.
Nabwana, 40, has made about 35
movies in the last five years. He now produces “between three and five” a year, all in the local Luganda language with English subtitles.
“I’ve got a computer, which I built
myself because I buy [the] parts. I’ve got floodlights, which are not really professional, but they work”
“The movie industry in Uganda is a
growing industry, young but fast
growing,” says Nabwana.

Action on action

There are four film companies in
Wakalinga, including Ssosha Film
Productions Ltd, LAP Film Productions and Nabwana’s own Ramon Films.
Though there are a number of others scattered across this East African nation’s capital of Kampala.
“I think it’s going to become the
Hollywood of Uganda, of Africa,
because we’re doing the action
movies which are not done elsewhere in Africa. Done by Ugandans, edited by Ugandans, produced by Ugandans,” says Nabwana.
But the continent-wide reach of
Uganda’s film industry is still a long way off. The local film industry churns out about 30 movies every year, while
Nigeria’s Nollywood, in comparison, makes about 70 a week. However, Nigeria has a population of 162 million people, while Uganda is a smaller country with only 34.5 million people.

Fledgling industry

There is no doubt that the local film industry is still fledgling. This week the inaugural Uganda Film Festival is being staged from Aug. 26 to 31 by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) in Kampala. It involves exhibitions, workshops and
training with mentors from South
Africa, Sweden and Nigeria. It also has forums to discuss business interests, and open-air screenings of 189 films in five locations across the capital.
“The main aim is to see the status of the film industry,” UCC director of broadcasting, Jonas Bantulaki, tells IPS.

Pearlwood vs Ugandawood

Uganda has not settled on a proper moniker for its film industry, says arts journalist and film critic Moses Serugo.
“There’s Pearlwood [referring to the 'Pearl of Africa', often used to describe this east African country] but Ugandawood or Ugawood gets
thrown around a lot,” he tells IPS.
There are two strands to the Ugandan movie sector, Serugo says. There are the “uptown film makers”, which includes the graduates of Maisha Film
Lab , a non-profit training initiative for emerging East African talent, founded in 2004 and run by Indian director
and Oscar nominee Mira Nair.
“Then you have the downtown
filmmakers who are more
commercial, who are just about
churning out films and distributing
them on DVD,” Serugo says.

Brick by brick

Nabwana makes his films for under 10 million Ugandan shillings (about 3,875
dollars), using the profit from his
brick-making business to fund his
movies.
Once they are finished, DVD copies are peddled door-to-door for 1.16 dollars a copy.
Production staff and even the actors, who often have to fork out for their own transport, supply their own wardrobe and do their own makeup, are not paid and only earn money when they sell the movies.
Nabwana says he makes little profit.
He can invest about 4,000 dollars in a movie but only make a quarter of it back.
Revenge: a true ghost story
Nabwana’s latest movie, Revenge , is the tale of a kind-hearted Ugandan businessman who helps his friend and is then beaten to death. A ghost then appears to revenge his killing.
“It’s based on a true Ugandan story,” Nabwana claims. It premiered in a movie hall in Lukwanga, in Kampala’s suburbs, about three weeks ago.
Earnest Sseruaayna plays one of the bad guys in Revenge. The married father of two and Wakalinga resident
was a welder, who also sold charcoal and washed cars for a living, before pursuing his dream of becoming an actor at age 31.
He spent a year making Revenge and pockets about 232 dollars per movie.
“I am making a lot of money [from
this],” says Sseruaanya, who has
appeared in 15 Ramon films in the
past five years. “It’s better than doing something else. But some are struggling to make a living.”

Film commission vs DIY

Serugo points out that Uganda has no film commission even though the industry could create thousands of jobs for unemployed graduates. “I think we really need a film commission, [like] you have initiatives in South Africa, [where they have] the National Film and Video fund or the Gauteng Film Commission.”
He says Uganda’s neighbour Rwanda, which he says does not necessarily have a “more advanced” film industry,
has shown “more initiative in
recognising film as a big contributor to the creative economy”.
Bantulaki agrees that a film
commission would be an “ideal
situation” and that it was something “we’re aiming for”.
But the lack of a local regulatory film commission will not stop Nabwana from making movies.
“We are doing it, we are doing it,” he says, his eyes lighting up. “Elsewhere
in Africa, maybe Americans come with their projects. For us, we do it ourselves here.”

Via Radio Netherland, Africa desk.