SXSW Review:
"Once Upon a Time in Uganda"
Release Date: N/A
Rating: N/A Running Time: 94 minutes Isaac Nabwana knows who he is as a filmmaker and how he wants his audience to feel. “My movies are action but in a comedy way,” says the driving force behind Uganda’s Ramon Film Productions, best known to his ardent fans outside the East-Central African nation as Wakaliwood. “I want people to laugh. So if you are watching my movie and you are sad, then I have done nothing.” It is impossible to watch one of Nabwana’s microbudget shoot ‘em ups and walk away feeling anything but joylful. The former bricklayer’s passion for the action antics of Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Sylvester Stallone, and Bud Spenser has manifested itself in a crusade to single-handedly create a Ugandan film industry through inexpensive violent thrillers noted for their DIY hussle and ingenuity, breakneck speed, and running commentary by the highly infectious VJ Emmie. (In Uganda, video jokers translate English-language films and provide cheeky asides.) Attendees at the 2016 Fantastic Fest—myself included—went nuts for the big, bold Bad Black, which cost all of $200 to make. Directed with genuine affection for Nabwana by Cathryne Czubek and Hugo Perez, the SXSW documentary Once Upon a Time in Ugandathoroughly traces Nabwana’s long and arduous regional, national and international rise to prominence. Czubek and Perez even adopt some of Nabwana’s trademark gimmicks, from staging interviews with “fights” breaking out in the background to the boisterous use of VJ Emmie. They even shoot scenes from an autobiographic film Nabwana longs to make about his childhood growing up in Uganda under and after Idi Amin’s dictatorship. To be frank, Nabwana likely would be toiling in obscurity were it not for Alan Hofmanis, a burnt-out film festival programmer who abandoned New York for Kampala and immediately began working with Nabwana as a Wakaliwood’s producer and its resident onscreen white villain. Czubek and Perez clearly reveal Hofmanis to be the yin to Nabwana’s yang. Nabwana’s focus is on making films, expanding his regional and national reach, and earning enough of a profit to pay his volunteer cast of actors; Hofmanis works on his long-term goal to turn Nabwana and Wakaliwood into a global brand.Once Upon a Time in Ugandatakes a dark turn when the close friendship and professional collaboration between Nabwana and Hofmanis turns bumpy, leaving the fate of Wakaliwood in the air. “We could have been the Beatles of exploding heads,” says an estranged Hofmanis after leaving Uganda to continue his crusade to introduce the world to Wakaliwood. But, as has already been established, Nabwana hates to leave his audience sad. And, by extension, Czubek and Perez certainly have no interest in ending their glorious celebration of the spirit of independent filmmaking on a sad note. So, Wakaliwood forever! Robert Sims Posted: April 10, 2020 Web site: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2020/films/2023315 |
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