The iKon Awards happened this past weekend and I couldn’t help but notice, as the categories went by, one by one, that I barely recognized any of the films that were up to win. The category of best lead actor was supposed to have names that elicited excitement from the audience, but all the names were new to us. They weren’t household favorites, not because they weren’t good, but because we haven’t had a chance to see them.
Which led me to ask, where do these high budget, well produced films go that we don’t get to see? There’s barely any promotion done once the film is out, save for some Instagram posts and the like. The general public has been left out of the conversation of film world. My answer was unveiled as the night went on.
Matthew Nabwiso brought up many key issues the film industry still faces, including one big risk – that MNET or Multichoice is the only major film buyer, and if they stop then the industry would come to a halt. This is a sobering realization that the films made are not even for the Ugandan audience specifically, but for those around Africa who use multichoice. I feel like there could be a happy medium to introduce feature film to the average metropolitan ugandan, while still holding onto the safe space that is the multichoice deals.
Cinema films like these need to become part and parcel of our regular cinema experience. I’m sure we have mostly grown bored of Marvel movies and Disney animations, we can have a steady rotation of new Ugandan feature films in cinema for a limited time, and then they can go to the buyer.
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