SUPER CINEMA

In WAKALIWOOD, scrap-metal choppers fly overhead, fake blood gushes by way of a fishing line, and a fast-talking Video Joker really gets the movie going. Think movies are a budget issue? Think again!

Since 2005, Wakaliga in Kampala, Uganda, has been home to a cinematic ecosystem whose name doesn’t reverently cite Bollywood and Nollywood but adds to it with full force. With ultra-low budgets and a sprawling imagination, founder and director Nabwana I.G.G. established Ramon Film Productions out of a love for action and community. Work is done without rigid departmental lines; the location is the neighborhood, and the actors are family, friends, and people from all over Uganda. Those who upcycle various materials into prop guns or a “Supa Choppa” today can choreograph a fight scene or step in front of the camera tomorrow.

Nabwana writes, shoots, cuts, and produces effects; Harriet Nabwana is head of makeup, favoring zombies over beauty—luckily for us genre fans. Props are usually made of metal pipes, saucepans, motorcycle parts, and anything waiting to be brought to life on screen. Martial arts are self-taught and handed down. Children who have been part of the production from a young age are filmmakers today; the Waka Stars work with the next generation. Twenty years on, it’s time to celebrate. A studio has grown into a school of collaboration.

Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010), Bad Black (2016), and Crazy World (2019) mash up kung fu, mafia, conspiracy, horror, and comedy. The plot can take a detour while a shootout is still raging! The frame may shake, but the idea hits home.

It’s by no means explicitly political cinema, but it always takes a pointed dig at political relations. Mostly shot in local languages, Wakaliwood movies embrace action as a film language that everyone understands—and even speak it in the local accent, with killer timing and global reach.

Wakaliwood is not only created on set but also in dubbing sessions in front of a live audience—with the Video Joker. In Uganda’s video halls, he doesn’t just translate dialogues but narrates, comments, mocks, and explains, never ceasing his rapid-fire jokes. Griot, vocal ensemble, sports commentator, dramaturge: a multifaceted resonating chamber, many roles, one voice, nonstop action. Explosive device, effect, and echo—with his live dubbing, VJ Emmy makes Wakaliwood resonate far beyond the borders of Uganda. At SLASH, he joins us in person, behind a laptop, for Eaten Alive in Uganda (2026): missing brother, lethal conjuring, walking dead. Which is to say, a film that desperately needs someone to talk us through it. Or some ten. VJ Emmy plays all the parts.

Doris Posch (SE/AT) is a film and cultural scholar and curator. She is the co-founder of the curator collective CineCollective and was co-director of the Kaleidoskop open-air film festival in Vienna.