Irene Kulabako gives Baby Passion Kisakye her Rising Star Award as other guest look on, June 6, 2025. She acted as Nkinzi in Nkinzi. PHOTO/ANDREW KAGGWA
The Uganda Film Festival, organised by the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC), held the 12th edition of the annual festival with a gala closing on Friday evening.
For the years the festival has been held, it has been a muse of many things still wrong with the industry. From the poor marketing, low turn-up at the cinema for most of the screenings and a generally disgruntled group of filmmakers.
This year, the festival came at a low point for the film industry, since MultiChoice cut down the number of films they commission, meaning the rate at which local films are being made fell by close to 50 percent and so did the quality.
What also happened was that almost all local A-list producers did not have a film submitted for the festival. And they were not boycotting. Most filmmakers simply do not have the budgets to make films independently.
This gave room for fresh producers to sneak in their films, which probably could have faced stiff competition from directors such as Nisha Kalema, Matthew Nabwiso, Matt Bish, Nana Kagga, Usama Mukwaya, and Richard Mulindwa, among others.
In fact among the nominees for Best Feature Film, only one of the producers with films nominated had been nominated before and only one had won the award before. That was Hassan Mageye.
The rest were first time nominees for this particular category. Rehema Nanfuka, for instance, the eventual Best Feature Film winner for Nkinzi is previously known for directing and winning Best Director for the film Veronica’s Wish, but this was her first stint as a producer.
The rest of the nominees for Best Feature Film were new faces, some of whom were there for their debut projects.
Like all festivals, celebration of the art most of the times takes place in the cinema.
Read detailed story and full list of winners here: Uganda Film Festival turns leaf at 12th anniversary of awards
