A section of filmmakers and exhibitors at the Film and Culture Market during the 2021 edition. PHOTO/FILM and culture market.
Before he was embattled, rapper and mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs described art as the way of life. Art has the power to draw people to a place or get them interested in events.
Over the years, Americans have made the world fall in love with the American dream, thanks to their cinema, music and theatre.
Through these recreation mediums, people have learnt about the Americans more than they did in school.
Who did not pick a thing or two about the American founding fathers after watching Lin Manuel Miranda's Hamilton: The American Musical? In fact, at the time the show premiered in 2015, the Treasury was planning to have Harriet Tubman, the black slave abolitionist, replace Alexander Hamilton on the ten-dollar bill.
After the show became popular and people were familiar with what Alexander Hamilton did for the US, there was a public outcry to save the ten-dollar bill with Hamilton on it. That is how powerful art is. It starts conversations and at times, forces people to act, which is partly the reason why the film and culture market is such a big deal.
Film and Culture Market is a three-day culture event that is the intersection of the film industry and cultural consumption. It encompasses exhibitions, business forums, production and distribution, consumption of films, workshops, as well as the broader cultural impact and influence of those films on society.
This market involves various stakeholders, including filmmakers, distributors, exhibitors, audiences, critics, and cultural institutions, all of whom contribute to shaping the cultural landscape through the creation and dissemination of cinematic content between Uganda and other countries. Aiming at defining the market and distribution of films and cultural exchange.
Promoting culture DM bodytext: Debuted in 2021, with screenings, film exhibitions, and trainings that present groundbreaking films from Uganda and other countries, the event promotes the spirit of collaboration.
Godfrey Musinguzi, the organiser of the market, says the event supports local films and empowers filmmakers as culture ambassadors.
“The aim is to promote culture while positioning film as a tool in the process,” he says. The event was initially launched in 2021 as an initiative of the Kampala Film Development Foundation with support of the American Embassy. Like many success stories, this too had many fathers and many promises.
“After the first edition, government and other agencies promised to support the annual event. But none of them kept their promise and the market did not take place in 2022,” he says. In 2023, the market was organised almost on a zero budget, and this year, with minimal support, the edition will be taking place from Monday to Wednesday.
This year, the market will have a number of specialised master classes, such as one on acting conducted by Diana Kahunde from TV shows The Hostel, What If, and films such as Bed of Thorns. Kwezi Kaganda will conduct a workshop on script writing and development; he has worked on projects such as The Hostel and Sanyu.
This being a film and culture market, they are also including marketing and distribution. The organisers, according to Musinguzi, have invited about eight distributors, and four of them will be at the event next week.
The theme for this year’s market is around conservation, and thus, they asked filmmakers to submit films around the topic; he says only two were from Uganda, and they were both short films.
Future collaborators
“Most Ugandan filmmakers do not address issues, and it is one of the things we want to address during the market, though this will need support from some government agencies as well,” he says.
However, two of the films screening will be off the festival, and these were made by budding filmmakers. Musinguzi says the main aim is to expose them to future collaborators.
These usually draw crowds even from those that don’t follow the film industry closely. Last year, make-up artist and costume designer Esther Nakaziba grabbed the attention of patrons with her out-of-the box make-up ideas. With more enthusiastic artists, it is believed more will showcase this year.
