Edgar Kangere
21 November 2009
opinion
I am an avid lover of film. For several like me, Dstv's Africa Magic Channel and the ever-surging Nollywood have been a detrimental chagrin deserving to be tried in the Prague for committing crimes against filmmaking.
Such was the measure of our disheartenment that we had given a requiem mass for African Film with our heads bowed in dismay at the death of our hopes to ever watch good African film in the face of Nollywood's basking sun.
But that was until I chanced upon the sixth instalment of the annual Amakula International Film Festival. I had always wanted to attend this festival but bad timing was my doom until the dates were changed from May to November this year.
I latched at the opportunity and to my surprise there are actually African filmmakers churning out sensible films although many are not reviewed by the mainstream media.
The festival kicked off in low gear for the bulk of the time, Kampalans true to their nature were virtually unrepresented. On the reel, short films and full-length features from Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Burundi, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, and DRC were featured. The films ranged from documentaries, to biographies, and they feature under this year's theme, Visionary Histories.
There were some really good movies and really bad ones. The crowd favourites included South Africa's White Wedding by Jann Turner and the AMMA Award winning From A Whisper by Wanuri Kahiu from Kenya.
The thing that came out strongly at the festival is that the Ugandan film industry is growing but not fast enough. The Kenyans and South Africans displayed considerable seniority and as always the Francophones were still miles ahead.
The Golden Impala Award
Every year, the Golden Impala Award is given to the best film in the Eastern Africa sub region and this year's went to The Storm by Orlando Mesquita from Mozambique. There was no single Uganda film shown that could match the quality of The Storm and this little fact stands undisputable.
Meanwhile, the integrity and prestige of the award was atrociously abused by the way it was conducted. Notwithstanding that the venue looked a shamble, the entire thing was hurried, looked sketchily planned and uncoordinated. The nostalgic tunes of Yvonne Chaka Ckaka's Owamasambele/ owoko mkomboti, played over the DJ's loud music, and thus ended the sixth instalment of the annual Amakula Festival.
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