Bwana Jogoo: The Ballad of Jessy Gitta

At the centre of the documentary 'Bwana Jogoo: The Ballad of Jessy Gitta' is a love triangle between the 1970's Cranes band bass player Jessy Gitta Kasirivu, President Idi Amin Dada and Sarah 'Suicide' Kyolaba, a then 17 year old go-go dancer. Jessy Gitta is Sarah's lover when Amin also starts dating her, with dire consequences for Jessy. This music docudrama was directed by a Ugandanised Dutchman named Michiel van Oosterhout, also known as "Mo"...

A Kalabanda Ate My Homework (2017 animated short film)

This 6-minute-long Creatures Company Limited Animation short story brings a ridiculous twist to the infamous school excuse “a dog ate my homework”. A Kalabanda is a short, mythical creature that is said to haunt Ugandan schools. I tried to spot one while locked in the dormitory alone bedridden with fever during P7 (in 1996) but failed and gave up totally. Sometimes, fear can make you imagine weird things. Nevertheless during S4 in a Catholic School, a friend confessed that he saw a White Fathers Missionary in the dark while bathing after load-shedding and hurried back to our dormitory; kalabandas are believed to be ghostly. Tendo, a pupil shows up to class one day without homework and is afraid of what the teacher might do to him. All the books handed in have no name on the cover, but since one is missing, the strict teacher Mr Oketch (voiced by Daniel Omara [Comedian]) demands to know who is the culprit. Tendo's neighbour - Dudu betrays him and gives him away. However, Tendo finds a funny excuse. Voice actors include Patrick Idringi (aka Salvador, the comedian), Martha Kay, Faith Kisa and some P4 pupils from Kabojja School, etc. It was all joy in Director Raymond Malinga’s camp as his short film scooped the Best Animation Award at Africa International Film Festival - AFRIFF held in Lagos, Nigeria. It was also the Official Selection at the 2018 ReAnimania International Animation Film and Comics Art Festival of Yerevan. Written by Robin Malinga, the Animation Team included Allan Muyinga, Jemimah Atim, Francis L. Nakishero; Concept Art: Paul Wembabazi; Modeling and Texture: Paul Desh Bwengye; Lighting and Rendering: Tim Hook...

Kampala Story

This is a drama about family and responsibility, specifically the hurdles a young Karimojong girl goes through as she tries to find medical help for her mother’s illness…

Endagaano N’omusambwa (2018 film)

Sempa (left) and the musambwa in his office about the time Cissy visits

Starring Disan Kasasa, Bbosa Sserunkuma (who also wrote the screenplay), Florence Namirimu and edited by Arnold Mayanja plus Ivan Kavan Kayongo (Director of Photography and Music), this Luganda supernatural film is a story by Asha Nalubwama. It begins with an old man dressed in a blue overall (though halfway), eyeglasses and a white rosary with blue beads around his neck thinking out loud outside his bungalow while carrying a cup and kettle to a roadside shade. He is greeted by two youthful, fleshy ladies in his village kneeling down, but he talks to them rudely saying their heads are filled with poverty. They are actually both romantically interested in his rich son, a young city businessman named Sempa. When Sempa strangles Raymond for spreading rumours that he was feeding customers with cancer through the bunzali [Translated from Luganda: curry powder] he sells, a female spirit that had made a marriage agreement with Raymond for success suddenly surfaces and takes away his corpse, but after removing the ring on his finger; she had warned Raymond about Sempa. The demon returns again a couple of times to Sempa until she makes him wear her irremovable ring too after teleporting him to a lake. The old man meanwhile does not want his daughter to associate with Aggrey, the maker of the sweetest kabalagala [pancakes] in the village. He tells her that even if “that dog” sells at 300 instead of 100 UgX per pancake, her grade is in Kampala City. Muzeyi [old man] also assures the village chairman that he does not ask for anything because he has everything and the only thing he can pray for in Church is “mpisa” [manners]. Even if he decides to eat in a basin, it’s his. If you do not leave a fool alone, then you are the fool. Working too much is not earning a lot. When one of the two curvy village women humbly begs the abusive muzeyi to convince Sempa to marry her (the smaller one asks her own mother), he tells her to use her good speech to resurrect the dead Kaweesi, probably referring to the Assistant Inspector General of Police who had been assassinated the preceding year.

Sempa and his father chatting

In Part 2, the brown-haired musambwa [spirit or demon] consumes blood from Kalyesubula (played by Frank Kalyesubula) given to Sempa by Mrs. Chairman (Jovia Wakisi) for mentoring in the city plus possesses and strangles a woman who had come to Sempa’s house; meanwhile her friend survives because the musambwa transforms Sempa into a tiny Lilliputian. The woman clad in a black mini dress walks out of Sempa’s crib wondering who had opened for her the door and whether Sempa was hiding from her. The musambwa warns Sempa, “Wegendereze [Be careful]! How many times do you want me to forgive you, how many times do you want to annoy me... Those who want to marry you, tell them you wedded already! Nze siri mukazi [Am I not a woman]?” Then, the musambwa meets Sempa’s father (Disan Kasasa) for the first time and instantly impresses him with her pretended good manners, looks plus tall “American” height. So, he takes her inside his house as a prospective wife for his son. When Sempa comes home, muzeyi tells him to look the other side so that he can bring out for him a surprise. However, the musambwa gets annoyed that muzeyi is the one soliciting women for Sempa and vanishes into his car. While driving out of the village, the bigbreasted Lydia (Shamim Njuki) stops them and expresses her passion for Sempa, but the musambwa causes her to vanish into thin air leaving behind her clothes by the roadside. Ahead of the road, Lisa (Mavita Manisula) threatens to remove the musambwa from the car, labels her “lukade” [old]. Sempa pushes Lisa away after the musambwa orders him to set off twice; the heartbroken Lisa later becomes bedridden. The village chairman (Abdulnoor Kasibante) confesses to Lisa's mother that he has heard rumours about Sempa marrying a spirit hence the sudden disappearances of villagers. A mob gathers to attack muzeyi’s home. Sempa who had been chased to his father’s house by the spirit is beaten by the villagers until his white vest becomes bloody after admitting that the demon drained Kalyesubula. Asha Nalubwama acts as Nakimuli, muzeyi’s daughter; Florence Namirimu is Peninah. It’s amazing that the musambwa did not touch Cissy, Sempa’s previous standout lover, but instead kills one of her two friends. This flick is a kinauganda like the typical kinigeria films from decades gone by, but with authentic Ugandan flavour...

iMANi (2009 film)

This multi-award-winning 79-minute Ugandan film by Caroline Kamya vibrantly captures three vignettes of life in modern day Uganda: A child soldier returns to the parents who could not protect him, a woman fights to get her wrongly accused sister out of jail and a youth dance troop leader struggles to simply get through a hometown performance. 

Caroline Kamya

These seemingly desperate stories slowly fuse into a profound singular narrative as the characters reveal themselves to be uniformly off balance in their own lives and the world around them. iMANi is an intimate exploration of characters who will likely remain far from resolution for some time to come...

Yogera (2010 film)

Directed by Yes! That's Us, Yogera is an urban social-realism drama about communication, love, family and friendship. Following the recent death of her mother, Hope - a deafmute - runs away from the countryside to live in the big city with her twin sister who is not ready for the responsibility that a deamute bears in a modern city like Kampala. Following a fight with her sister, Hope disappears and wanders around the city while experiencing the challenges and cruelty that a modern city possesses for a person like her...