ONCE UPON A TIME IN UGANDA - Mark Reviews Movies

Once Upon a Time in Uganda, Yellow Veil Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 6, 2023

While it might not tell its story from the most useful perspective, Once Upon a Time in Uganda offers an insider look at how one man with a dream and an unwavering love for movies has put Ugandan cinema—namely his unique brand of it—on the map. This documentary may feel like a starting point for a deeper dive into the works and the world of this incredibly low-budget sort of filmmaking, but director Cathryne Czubek makes certain that we're left with a strong desire to do that ourselves.

The central figures here are Isaac Nabwana, known professionally as Nabwana I.G.G., and Alan Hofmanis. Nabwana resides in Wakaliga, an impoverished area of the capital city of Kampala, where he started making movies with his wife Harriet and a team of local volunteers in 2005, simply because he had to. He grew up, not with the American action movies of the 1980s, but with his brothers' recounting of the movies they had seen in the local movie houses. Nabwana still has an infectious, child-like smile whenever he gets to see the ideas of imagination brought to life.

Meanwhile, Hofmanis, a New York City resident, worked in the movie industry in various jobs, but at some point, he lost the passion for the work. Add to that a failed romantic relationship that he believed could go the distance, and Hofmanis found himself drawn to Nabwana's movies, the trailers for which had become online viral sensations for their cheap production values, over-the-top violence, and running commentary by a local "video joker."

It was more than that, though. In 2012, Hofmanis decided to travel to Wakaliga, find Nabwana, and offer to help the production and marketing of the filmmaker's future projects. The documentary follows his efforts.

This is, of course, a point of view that puts some distance between us and Nabwana, as well as the many non-professional volunteers who put so much time and hard work into making these movies on budgets equivalent to only a couple hundred dollars. Fortunately, Hofmanis doesn't exaggerate his role or try to take credit for what already existed before his trip to and extended stay in Wakaliga. Much of the film, apart from a world tour that has Hofmanis try to bring new eyes to the makeshift industry he has come to adore and admire, is dedicated to showing Nabwana and his crew in their element.

It's quite impressive and inspiring to watch the community come together to learn martial arts for current or future projects, a prop master assemble various weapons and vehicles out of scrap metal, and Nabwana overseeing it all with a real joy for making movies—and a level of self-awareness about their budgetary shortcomings. Once Upon a Time in Uganda is undeniably a sales pitch for the work of what Nabwana has dubbed "Wakaliwood," but the behind-the-scenes fun, along with some drama about creative and business differences, makes it an undeniably convincing one, too.

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