The beginnings of the Ugandan 7th art
Ugandan 7th art appears to have its origins in the early 2000s. Indeed, in 2005, actor-director Ashraf Ssemwogerere's Feelings Struggle is credited as the first all-Ugandan production. That same year, filmmaker Isaac Nabwana (better known as Nabwana IGG) set up the Wakaliwood film studio in the Wakaliga slum in Kampala, the Ugandan capital. Producing mainly action and kung-fu films, the studio is mainly known for producing very low-budget films: none of its works exceeds a budget of 200 euros. Since its foundation in 2005, the studio has already produced some fifty films. Isaac Nabwana's (the studio's sole director) best-known works produced under the Wakaliwood umbrella are Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010) and Bad Black (2016), which screened at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) in 2017 to critical acclaim. Filmmaking couple Eleanor and Matthew Nabwiso begin to make a name for themselves at numerous festivals. The Nabwisos have produced and directed Rain (2016), Bed of Thorns (2019, featuring an all-female technical crew) and Prickly Roses (2020). Ugandan works that have attracted attention at festivals (notably the Uganda Film Festival) include Lukyamuzi Bashir's Bala Bala Sese (2016), Rehema Nanfuka's Veronica's Wish (2018) and Kizito Samuel Saviour's The Forbidden (2018). Finally, recent works such as Tembele (2023) by Morris Mugisha, the animated film Kafa Coh (2024) directed by Loukwenge Daniel, and No Way Out (2024) by Joseph Ken Ssebagala illustrate the vitality of Ugandan cinema.
International
A number of international works have passed through Ugandan lands for the purposes of filming. Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, 2018), for example, shoots in the farmlands of Wakanda, the Rwenzori Mountains and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, while part of Joel Karekezi's film Jungle Mercy (2018) is filmed in the Virunga Mountains. In addition, two works are particularly noteworthy, as they deal with important Ugandan personalities. In 2006, Scottish director Kevin Macdonald made The Last King of Scotland, a feature film combining biography and fiction, about the reign of Idi Amin Dada. The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Giles Folden. In the role of the Ugandan dictator, Forest Whitaker received three of the most prestigious awards for his performance: the Oscar, the Golden Globe and the Bafta for Best Actor. Ten years later, Disney produced The Lady from Katwe, directed by Indian-American Mira Nair, a biographical work based on the life of Phiona Mutesi, a young Ugandan chess player. The film was shot mainly in the slums of Katwe, Kampala and Johannesburg, South Africa. Around a hundred Ugandans took part in the film as extras, joining the cast which includes the young Madina Nalwanga, Lupita Nyong'o and David Oyelowo.
