WAKALIWOOD
Issac Nabwana is a Ugandan film director. He has made over 45 feature-length movies. He has operated under a shoestring budget of $180. He produces a new movie a month. His cast aren’t classically trained Shakespearean actors. His actors are volunteers, friends, and neighbors, who mostly drive taxi vans and sell vegetables at the local market. Nabwana’s films aren’t shot on studio lots, they’re shot in backyards. He doesn’t have 70mm film to shoot with. He doesn’t have the best editing software. Instead, Nabwana edits his films on discarded computers that were, at one time, literally someone eles’s trash. Did I mention that he does all of this in Uganda?
Let me stop for a second, I’m going about this all wrong. Instead of telling you what Nabwana doesn’t have, let me tell you what he has in abundance, heart.
Nabwana produces all of his content, he has amassed a cult following of thousands overseas, and has been dubbed “Africa’s Tarantino” due to the violent, but comedic nature of his films. To be honest, it looks like a bunch of guys shooting each other gratuitously with martial arts sprinkled in, but that’s ok. I don’t speak Ugandan, so I can’t really judge the writing. Yet, the amount of work and time is evident.
Here’s a trailer for his first film titled “Who Killed Captain Alex” , it’s a little rough, but honestly I couldn’t do that with a $1800 budget, let alone $180.
Nabwana has been a pioneer in his community, he has curbed the natural flow of African cinema. He has added a new dish to an anemic media diet. For a time, Ugandans would only watch Hollywood movies or films from Nigeria’s massively popular silver-screen counterpart, Nollywood. Now, many Ugandans are flocking towards Nabwana’s creation, Wakaliwood.
Nabwana keep doing you, man. It’s motivating to see that a man, his dream, and his friends can change the landscape of his country so drastically. As creatives, we could look at Nabwana’s story and struggles for inspiration.
