Discoveries from Uganda World Cinema

Footage of Carl and Mary Akeley filmed during the AMNH Eastman-Pomeroy-Akeley East African Expedition, 1926. Short scenes from campsites and wildlife in Nairobi, Uganda, and Tanganyika (now Tanzania)

On the one year anniversary of his wedding, Nijat came home without telling his wife in advance. He discovered that every time he wasn’t there, his wife would bring his beloved dog to her uncle Kerim’s house. And even the fact that she was a smoker was something only her cousin Erpan was knew.

A story of a former child soldier Arnold Aganze from Congo who finds himself in Uganda. Arnold tries to integrate into the Ugandan community but discovers that he cannot. He is trying to come to terms with his past, a dark story from the time when the civil war in Congo had spilled over into his village in South Kivu.

"The Blame" is an intense drama unraveling family secrets, guilt, and redemption as a mother and daughter confront a traumatic past, testing the bonds of love and resilience in the face of darkness.

In Uganda, being gay is illegal. In Uganda, members of the gay and transgender community face discrimination, violence, arbitrary arrests and forced evictions simply because of who they love. But in Uganda, there is hope. These are the voices of gay and transgender Ugandans. This is what love means to them.

In the season of raw mangoes, by Ugandan Film director Abaho Ab'amaani.

One night in Beijing, a Uyghur boy called Mustafa is out with his friends. He meets a Uyghur girl with a headscarf. After spending the night with her, Mustafa has fallen deeply in love with her...

In a world driven by inherited beliefs, social noise, and quiet despair, a searching mind wrestles with the question of purpose, challenging whether humanity is truly living or simply surviving until it disappears.

A story of the fight for justice in the face of power. The fight hijacks a young naive lawyer, Sandrah Atika Alexis who finds herself at the center of a battleground between two political heavyweights.

Charlie, a troubled artist, is caught in a deadly time loop, reliving the same night where a masked intruder takes his life. As the cycle repeats, he confronts the intruder, only to discover a shocking truth

A History of Film in Uganda is a film essay/documentary that documents the the birth and evolution of Film and TV production as a cultural practice within the geographical confines of present-day Uganda from the early colonial period through the decades to the present. It also highlights various creative movements and sociopolitical and economic factors that have shaped the contemporary Ugandan film industry.

A woman is forced to choose between sheltering her surprise witness and finding her sexual voice after an embarrassing incident.

SCALP DEEP captures the struggles of a young African woman as she navigates the reactions and expectations of others after she decides to commit to a new look.

When an indigenous woman is torn from her home, she must do anything she can to feed her young son.

In this meditation on migration, loss of language, and the transcendence of reimagined forms of communication, filmmaker Abul Ajak explores how cultural identities are not fixed but always in transition through her relationship with her grandmothers.

A young reporter loses his girlfriend and job in one day. Then one evening while drinking with his longtime buddies at a bar, he comes across a cash-filled briefcase belonging to a mysterious underworld lord. Greed and conflict over the possession of the money begins to erode their friendship. Depressed and in a vulnerable position, Ryan agrees to join the underworld lord's organization. Unknown to him, the organization is actually a cult that sacrifices humans in exchange for wealth and beauty.

An unexpected love affair is formed at a taxi stop in Uganda and is forever changed by a wardrobe choice.

An action movie about hunting animals.

A young man battling with depression finally finds a way out of it. it was easy all along, but he didn't know how

A man released from prison finds his wife about to marry his best friend.

November Tear, a feature film of a young girl forced out of their home, now faces the harsh conditions of the world outside her world.

Marteria and Maeckes in Uganda. ZDFkultur host Rainer Maria Jilg accompanies the two rappers to Africa. The trip was organized by the charity Viva con Agua, which works to provide clean drinking water in developing countries.

When their son is born with a mental disability, a young couple struggles with social stigma as they pursue medical and spiritual treatments for him.

Amidst the shimmering expanse of Lake Victoria, Esther and Jessica, two brave sisters and young mothers, defy convention and danger by becoming fisherwomen. While the law dictates the use of large nets, their steep prices force these resilient sisters to resort to affordable but illicit small nets. Every cast of their net is a dance with death, as government soldiers patrol tirelessly, their bullets ready to silence any transgressor. For the sisters, this perilous existence is a desperate means to an end - a lifeline for their families in a world bound by poverty and unforgiving rules.

When the Maid Of Honor Katherine Othieno is found dead in her room on the morning of her sister Samantha’s wedding, the invasive Private Investigator James Andera is mysteriously hired by the father of the victim to aid lead Detective Prudence Kaya in solving the murder. Kaya & James will sift through a web of lies and misleading half-truths to uncover the mystery behind Kate’s untimely death. Kaya and James will desperately run down every lead from a wide pool of suspects that consists of the victim’s friends and family. As they uncover the nature of the relationship the victim had with everyone at the wedding, they discover each and every one of them has a deadly secret and a motive for her murder.

After his father is hospitalized with a stroke, Sebastian learns the truth that his mother is still alive and travels to Africa to find her.

In this poetic portrait of a Ugandan tradition, Masaka’s grasshopper catchers light up the sky.

Two lovers caught in the conflict of war and the choice between love and duty. Otti, is abducted by the LRA at the age of 11 and is raised as a rebel with no room of escape. Despite the circumstances, his love for Aguti remains. In an effort to keep in touch with her, he writes and delivers letters through the village reverend - only to be discovered by the rebels who raid and abduct everyone from the girl's school she's in. Upon arrival at the rebel camp, the abductees are paraded before Kony whose interest falls upon Aguti without knowledge of the relationship between her and Otti.The two lovers struggle to keep their love a secret and also plot their escape.

A love story about a Muslim young woman in Uganda who fights for her right to choose her own lover over a forced marriage.

A wild action thriller full of street-fu, motorcycle chases and great music. Uganda’s coolest fight over the fate of a drug runner. You’ll be surprised by the twist!

Over the course of four days, a young woman goes through a harrowing journey as she processes her mother's death.

In a community steeped in tradition, the Kimote family has been renowned for their exquisite barkcloth craftsmanship for generations. Kimote Sr., disillusioned by a life of unfulfilled dreams, urges his son to abandon their ancestral trade in search of greater opportunities. However, young Kimera, deeply rooted in the skills and culture passed down to him, envisions a new purpose for the humble barkcloth—transforming its status beyond its traditional use in funerary rites.

A young African boy finds solace in an online friend, but the friendship turns out not to be what it seems.

A young Ugandan and a Colorado intern discover first-hand how charity models in Africa can create exploitation and dependance. Together with unexpected partners, they develop a model of local-ownership and micro-enterprise that could forever shift how the West views poverty relief.

A nice looking furnitured house in a far distance in the forest was turned into a killing zone by a family which first lived in this house. Proving to those who accommodates this house that it's a wrong House for them to stay in

When her father is unexpectedly kidnapped, Allison Elliott must embark on a dangerous adventure to rescue her father - and discover the truth about who he really is - all while trying to stop a renegade scientist known as the Outcast from unleashing a powerful device on the entire city!

David Ocitti was just a boy when the rebels attacked his village, forcing him to become a soldier in their brutal army. After surviving a narrow escape, David returns home, only to be ostracized from his family. A testament to radical forgiveness and restorative justice, David ultimately embraces the very perpetrators who ripped apart his family and helps them find a second chance at life.

A story of boyfriend's battle for love through perseverance. In the outskirts of Sese Island, John is madly in love with Maggie and both are willing to take their love forward. Facing abuses and harassment by malicious Maggie's father Kasirivu, John, helped by his young brother Alex is determined to take in all but to retain the love of his life especially when he finds out that he has a contender village tycoon who is also lining up for Maggie.

Four highschoolers' weekend trip to Canada is cut short when they crash their mini-van. Now they must raise enough money to fix the van before their parents return home.

In the heart of Uganda, a forbidden love between Owinenza, a Munyarwanda girl, and Kasule, a Muganda man, sparks a journey to overcome deep-seated tribal biases, leading to a powerful movement of unity and reconciliation that transforms their divided community.

Danish-Ugandan Luba returns to her father’s rainforest in Uganda to save what is on the brink of being lost – a personal story about climate struggle, belonging, and Denmark’s responsibility in a changing world.

In Kampala’s cinema halls, VJ Emmy is the main event. The film follows this boisterous interlocutor as he brings the art of dubbing to life. Emmy doesn’t just translate; he performs, remixing blockbusters and cult classics with unfiltered commentary that renders them newly meaningful for local audiences.

A family drama with music and comedy featuring the Triplets Ghetto Kids in their first ever movie.

The viewer is lured deep into a dilapidated glasshouse, a place where nature is traditionally tamed and studied, by a ghostly figure, dancing to a variation on the popular song from Disney’s The Jungle Book (1967). As the music fades out, he makes way for the vocal group Black Harmony, offering a reinterpretation of the song in their own language - Lugbara. I Wan’na Be Like You deconstructs and reconstructs the novel, film, that song and their legacies.

A short film about a single young African mother who has faced sexual harassment, and rape, and is living with HIV. She struggles so much to raise her child in a poverty-stricken ghetto in Namuwongo Kampala Uganda. Despite encountering numerous challenges along the way, and in the end she is encouraged not to help only her daughter but the community at large.

Nancy decided to move on with her life, yet abandoning her own daughter to another man, not knowing that one day her own daughter was to save her dad.

This is about the Gastro being called to take his chosen ones to the land he promised. and Gastro had to take hard decisions which even included neglecting his own family and he followed the call of the GOD of heaven that her wife ESTHER used to worship.

The money Erpan saved from the part-time job was divided up by his father, making him unable to buy his beloved accordion. Erpan and his friend Musa fool around and beaten by a group of people lead by Kamil, he had to follow his mother home. Finally, Ayisha helped Erpan to get an accordion, in this process, the relationship between them became closer.

In a poverty-striken Ugandan neighborhood, Ocen meets a Coach who's impressed by his potential for track athletics which changes his life from a hustler to a hurdler inspired by John Akii Bua's success story.

In an affluent suburb of Kampala, among the socially and financially privileged, a middle-aged woman, Nanta, is trapped in a loveless and childless marriage forcing her to make a choice on whether to stay in an institution that many African women consider the ultimate achievement or defy the conventional and cultural norms and embark on a journey of self discovery and healing.

Grammy-nominated Ugandan Jewish singer Rachel Namadosi reflects on growing up Jewish in Uganda as she goes about her busy day and looks forward to her day of rest, Shabbat.

A poetic celebration of the role and place of the Calabash in African societies. At the same time - using the calabash as a metaphor for African film - it questions yesterday's African cinema and critically addresses the cinema of tomorrow: will it be able to break away from clichés and prejudices? This film is an appeal for a critical fusion of tradition and innovation, past and future. (africine.org)

College Students get stuck in a haunted forest while on their way for a camp fire trip with just one night to survive carnivores and the evil killing spirit in the thick trees.