Ngalabi 2024 Celebrates Stories Beyond Boundaries

Filmmaking in Uganda has long been an underappreciated industry. Despite its rich cultural heritage and untapped storytelling potential, Uganda’s film industry has struggled with various challenges—both financial and infrastructural. Ugandan filmmakers are constantly faced with an uphill battle because of the lack of funding, professional training, and industry support. The Ugandan Film Industry is held together by a shoestring budget and passionate storytellers who want to see quality stories on the big screen rather than the extensive resources seen in more established film industries. This reality has led to many low-budget projects, with filmmakers often having to improvise with available resources. 

Having been part of the production of a couple of films in the recent past, I know first-hand how much the storytelling we do is driven by passion.

The infrastructure has also lagged; there was one major film school established in 2010—the Kampala Film School. And, this school does provide crucial training in cinematography, editing, and scriptwriting, but the kicker is that it has high tuition costs that remain a barrier for many aspiring filmmakers.

So the creation of film festivals like the Ngalabi has been an important part of showcasing and fostering Uganda’s film industry. Ngalabi was launched in 2017 and was designed to provide a platform for short films in Uganda and Africa at large. The festival aims to spotlight local and regional filmmakers, giving them visibility while also creating a space for African cinema to thrive in a global context. The short film format is so often overlooked in larger festivals but it offers a concentrated space for experimentation and storytelling. 

Ngalabi’s founders were aware of the underrepresentation of East African films in global conversations and wanted to offer emerging Ugandan and African filmmakers a stage to show their work alongside their international counterparts. The festival takes place annually in Kampala and is hosted by Goethe Zentrum Kampala. Over the years, Ngalabi has grown in significance and has managed to curate films that explore everything from personal narratives to social and political issues that resonate across Africa. Since its debut in 2017, the festival has established itself as a significant platform for short films, showcasing creative storytelling from across Africa and beyond.

Over the eight years of its existence, Ngalabi has become part of the cultural shift toward nurturing a more structured and recognized film industry in Uganda. It addresses some of the sector’s core challenges, such as the lack of distribution networks, limited government support, and access to quality training. With each edition, the festival helps pave the way for Uganda’s cinematic voice to grow and shine and offers hope for the industry’s expansion into international arenas.

This year, the Ngalabi Short Film Festival 2024 ran from September 6th to 8th and marked its 8th edition at the Circular Design Hub in Kampala. This year’s festival featured 25 films from Uganda, of course, and other countries like Rwanda, Egypt, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Germany, and more, offering an eclectic mix of genres including drama, sci-fi, magical realism, and afro-surrealism.

Some of the notable films in this year’s lineup included “Herderboy” by Ugandan director, Raymond Malinga, “From Here to There” by Rwanda’s Remy Ryumugabe, and “An Ode to a Time I Loved Bread” by Neema Ngelime, a co-production spanning Tanzania, Belgium, Hungary, and Portugal. The festival also featured Q&A sessions, allowing audiences to engage with the filmmakers about the creative process behind their works.

For me, the highlights of the Ngalabi Film Festival were two films that I was personally connected to. One, “The Pizza Movie”, was a production that I had the honour of helping to produce. It was created with immense love and dedication for filmmaking by people that I hold dear.

The other film, “Let’s Eat,” held a similarly important place in my heart. Directed and acted by two of my friends, it was thrilling to see them take their talents to the big screen. Witnessing their hard work and vision come to life in front of an audience that appreciated them too was an incredibly rewarding experience. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to witness so much of what we’ve all been able to create and to share that with a wider community.

The 25 films showcased at the Ngalabi Film Festival 2024 captured a rich variety of themes, ranging from identity and friendship to love, loneliness, jealousy, the lengths that revenge of heartbreak will take you to and resilience, with even touches of magical realism. One of the standout aspects of the festival was its exploration of timely issues like the impact of the influencer economy, which added a contemporary edge to the selection. The filmmakers experimented with storytelling and the format in which they tell the story, like “An Ode To The Time I Loved Bread.”

Each film presented a unique lens through which to view human experiences. In just three days, Ngalabi demonstrated the power and potential of short films to provoke thought, stir emotion, and entertain, touching on universal emotions and struggles. I was entertained and challenged. From intimate personal journeys to larger societal reflections, the selection was immersive, engaging the audience while expanding the boundaries of storytelling within the short film format.

The festival ended with an electric performance from Elijah Kitaka. Ngalabi highlighted the importance of festivals like these in nurturing local talent and elevating Uganda’s cinematic voice, paving the way for the industry to grow and find its place on the international stage.