The Review

3rd Uganda Film Festival pictorial and analysis

Tanzania to get own Maisha Magic channel

NE-YO

Can he save Coke Studio?

Halo Welcome to the premiere issue of The Review, a Ugandan magazine that’s biased towards reviewing Radio, TV and Film. The magazine wants to put the spotlight on film, film makers, Radio and TV personalities and the programmes they do.

The inspiration of the magazine that will freely be available online was the success of TV hit show The Hostel almost four years back. The show was proof that Ugandans are ready for local content as opposed to what TV stations had made everyone believe.

This magazine is coming to give local content a push as well as constructively criticizing it, we are here to ask questions, analyze but above all make sure that local stations don’t take viewers for granted! This magazine is available on the blog ; tsupug.blogspot.com Hope you enjoy the first read and those that will come after.

Andrew kaggwa..

Contributors

You too can contribute to the Review by simply writing about your favorite TV, Film or Radio show. Or you can give an opinion about these. You send the stories to kommandmedia@gmail. com

Zahra Abdul, our resident photographer is a final year Mass Communication student at Makerere University. She currently works with Kampala Express, a Ugandan based social media newspaper. Zahra’s photography has been used in top local dailies like The Observer and The Daily Monitor.

Moses Serugo is a blogger and renown arts journalist. In the past, he has written for the Daily Monitor, The Observer, Independent and the East African.

He’s also had stints at NTV as a programmes director. At the moment, he runs his Kampala 1 blog which mostly talks about arts. He contributes two stories in this issue of Review.

Coming Soon..

Read & Win!

Sipi, Wako and New Intensions are some of the mostly anticipated films of 2015, while Wako will be premiering at the beginning of October, little to nothing is known about the premires of the rest.

To celebrate this first edition, the editorial team is giving out five copies of Wako.

All you have to do is read the magazine and write back, the first five emails sent will walk away with this award winning action film done by Ugandans for Ugandans.

Email what you think about the magazine and what you want us to change. Send emails to kommandmedia@gmail.com

6

Contents Joel Kisakye wins Coca Cola Rated Next..... 6 Joseph Ken Sebbagala was the biggest winner at this year’s Uganda Film Festival with both his Call 112 and House Arrest baging major awards.

Read more about the Uganda Film Festival, plus a review of Call 112 in this debut issue of The Review

21 Can Neyo Save Coke Studio Africa...... 21

8

28

We believe in exposing corruption, because it is our role as citizens.....

Joel Kisakye wins Coca Cola Rated Next There have always been skeptics about televised music contests this side of the continent. Think about it, as Nigeria goes on to discover talents like Kcee, Timi Dokolo, Praiz and Chidinma from talent shows, the local ones struggle to even front two for testimonies.

It’s such a common story we can relate to almost everything, from the little known Super Girl on Record TV, NTV’s Talent XP to the highly marketed Tusker Project Fame (TPF) – abundant talent that has produced very few stars.

And it was literally the case at the just concluded Rated Next talent search that’s powered by Coke Cola at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala – the lighting, presenter, judges and contestants were on spot but there was no energizing story for contestants to look up to.

Joel Kisakye, the eventual winner of the night wasn’t such a surprise, his screams and chants had literally dominated the night, and to set him apart, at least from fellow contestants, dude had support from the attending celebrity entourage that had the likes of former Big Brother Africa Hotshot Ellah, Myko Ouma, Irene Ntale and one Winnie Nwangi.

This time round, the remaining contestants were redoing some of their best performances during the entire seasons.

Joel reprised his version of Sauti Sol’s Neria, he had almost everyone in the audience eating out of his palm, especially when he replaced Amos and Josh’s name with his.

In the past, Rated Next has given us Daniel Kawesa and Ruth Grace, however, much as they both came with the desired hype, their music careers have literally hit an all-time bottom low, for instance the last time the season one winner made it to the public was at the opening of season two.

Ruth on the other hand was at the Sunday show, as a performer, but sadly, only a few people in the audience cared about what she was singing.

The show has though had hits with other finalists, Kenneth Mugabi, a top ten contestant in season One is yet to release his highly acclaimed Kibun’omu album. But that’s not all, he was one of the headlining acts at the Pearl rhythm Festival last year, closed the Qwela Junction Guitar Maestros show with heartwarming Sikyagenda alongside Joe Kahiri and will grace the Bayimba International Festival stage later this year.

Another Rated Next contestant outshining a winner is Nwangi, she wasn’t anywhere near Ruth but has managed to churn out hits like Embera and Katonotono.

Joel is immensely talented and loved in equal measures, that as he was announced winner, it was just befitting for one fan to wonder if he won’t waste their love, vote and his own talent like his predecessors.

Photos: (1)Joel Kisakye holds his cheque moments after being announced winner.

(2) Judges watch the performances (3) Artistes Myko Ouma, Apass and Vision Group’s Robert Kabushenga (4,5,6) Moments leading to Kisakye’s victory

Pictorial

Uganda Film Festival (UFF) in pictures #UFFCarnival #AwardGala

The third edition of the Uganda Film Festival was launched with a carnival. Aptly themed as Celebrating Quality of Ugandan Film, the four day event was intended to shine a light on an industry that many locals barely know exists.... Photos by Zahra Abdul

It’s Still A long way For

Uganda Film Festival

The third edition of the UCC sponsored Uganda Film Festival wrapped on Friday at Serena Hotel. As you could imagine, there was merry making as a section of film makers came together to reminisce about the year it has been and also ponder about the future.

Poignant as usual, the scene was, though for the general public, it was a low key event as always.

For reasons probably known to the organizing team, the festival is quite a fame machine among the film makers, though still terribly unpopular among the general public – yet they are the most important clientele of the entire film making business.

There were films showing in different city cinemas but most of them aired in between 10am to 5pm making it almost impossible for working people to catch the screenings.

It was also absurd that the festival organization had amateurish tendencies written all over it, for instance choosing to open with a cocktail/Sheebah and Pallaso rather than a film screening was not forgivable – think about a world cup without an opening match.

And the closing didn’t differ much, besides the trophies and the laptop gifts, it was clear the bigger budget went to catering, Eddy Kenzo, Chameleone and crew than the actual reasons everyone was gathering in

the first place.

The festival had been launched with a carnival that went from Wandegeya across the streets of Kampala to the National Theater.

Then the gala was miserably produced, the sound was awful, poorly lit and for some reasons, they lacked clips of the nominated films and persons – which is a primary ingredient to any audio- visual award show.

This year, it was themed around Celebrating the Quality of Ugandan Film, which according to Femi Odugbemi, the head of the judging panel has greatly improved. And he wasn’t so wrong, many film makers got the lights, cinematography and post production right, in fact, their biggest undoing was story telling; for instance, Call 112 had a poorly researched idea, House Arrest is quite redundant with a less believable ending and Situka had beautiful shoots that didn’t aid the story - yet these were some of the most nominated films.

But Odugbemi though noted that the actors’ performances were much better than what he saw last year.

He also cautioned UCC to think about including TV dramas into the whole audio visual celebrations since they are the most celebrated film makers and actors the country has.

The award night was a blessing for Joseph K Ssebagala, his House Arrest, even with mixed reviews walked home with four awards of Best Sound, Actress, Feature Film and Film of the Year, his other film Call 112 undeservingly took the Best Actor award for Farouk Mutebi’s portrayal of Paul.

Berlin and Durban bound Boda Boda Thieves won two awards of Best Post Production and Cinematography.

Jared Mokobo, General Manager, Zuku TV Uganda, one of the festival sponsors, noted that Ugandan cinema is on the right direction and they are willing to take it on as content, in fact, he said that they are looking at collaborating with film makers for projects than simply buying content.

Now in its third year, some film makers believe the festival will become better with time while others think UCC and UFF may not easily correct the wrongs they’ve made even with a standing budget; “For these guys a festival is all about cocktails and metallic statues,” noted one of them at the gala.

Much as Eng. Godfrey Mutabazi encouraged Ugandans to embrace local content by buying Ugandan films, many film makers believe this is a myth especially if their flagship festival has failed to get both its act in order and promoting to the market presumed to consume film.

Zuku TV's Jared Mokobo hands over an award

BET award winning Eddy Kenzo was also present

Joseph Ken Ssebagala recieves one of his many awards

irene Namatovu during her performance

UCC’s Executive Director delivers the openning speech

Multichoice’s Tina Wamala poses for a picture with Farooq The cast and crew of House Arrest celebrating winning Mutebi, the best actor winner Best Feature Film

Reviews

Call 112

Call 112’s biggest undoing was storytelling which was a result of inadequate research, as a result, the entire plot was affected

There is no doubt that Ugandans love local content; when NTV debuted a local film, Boda Boda, last Monday, there was a frenzy online which proved the public was indeed following.

Coincidentally, this was only a day before Call 112, a highly billed Ugandan film that was premiering on Tuesday 4 at the National Theater.

The film follows lives of two siblings that find themselves in the hands of human organ traffickers after they are kidnapped on their way back from school.

From the naming, it’s clear that director Joseph ken Ssebagala is attempting to tell a dark story of the illicit business using a police angle – that was interesting.

But it seemed a bit challenging, considering the fact that he had promised that Call 112 was a one location film which was a house where the two siblings were lying after their capture.

I guess the anticipated involvement of the police, and the action that would have ensued is basically part of the few things that held the audience at National Theater’s auditorium in faith. You could imagine we were going to get into those police dealings and how they get to follow a case starting from nothing to something, though as the story continued unfolding, it was clear Ssebagala had not really set out to tell a story, but waste our precious anxiety.

The film opens with a type writer that in the same way Jakira Suudi, has a seems to be in action, the move was following which could have worked Cast:since Farooq Mutebi, creative this was the timeJakira many for the film if his part as Javar the Suudi, Has- psychopath was well threaded. of the creditsFausta like theNanziri, title and main actors introduced in a printing sanwere Mageye format. The biggest issue though was Call 112 further faces doubts espeDirector: Joseph Kabout Ssebagalla cially for a fact that two people were a fact that the film wasn’t a captured and they were somehow secretary, journalist or press in general and thus the type writing collage put in a room that had a mobile phone with credit, a knife and the was purely misplaced. keys that can unlock the padlocks to Slightly after the type writer, the edi- their cages – such good captors! tor, who happens to be the director The entire plot of seeing whether popresents various still photos which lice can respond in time in case they are also not aiding the story in any way. And neither does the first scene are contacted or getting into the illeof that involves Farooq Mutebi (Paul), gal business of organ trafficking was a the lead actor sharing a cigarette with myth, the police barely lasts a minute Ssebagala in the loos – whatever hap- on the screen and we don’t even see pened to the importance of the first a single human body part changing hands or removed, save for one perscene. son that we see lying on something A few minutes later, Paul and the that looks like an operation table. sister are captured while in a taxi and Generally Call 112’s biggest undoing the rest is the director plunging us was storytelling which was a result of into some poorly lit 90 minutes. inadequate research, as a result, the Ssebagala had a great cast, Mutebi is entire plot was affected. Comparing loved and is immensely talented but this film to Ssebagala’s 2014 hit The putting him in a chicken cage for the Reform, it’s safe to say the director entire film was simply misusing both took an abrupt dive. his qualities as an actor and physique,

Cast: Farooq Mutebi, Jakira Suudi, Fausta Nanziri, Hassan Mageye Director: Joseph K Ssebagalla Trivia Call 112 was one of the highly anticippated films of 2014, However after it’s release, the film turned out as the most criticized film for its jaw dropping inacuracies.

Then it became one of the most nominated films at Uganda’s flagship UFF, a government run film festival.

Call 112’s Mutebi beat highly expected winner Spike Isingoma to win the Best Actor at the UFF. Spike would go on to win the Best Promising Actor at the Africa Movie Academy Awards.

Reviews

Boda Boda

Theives

Cast: Hassan ‘Spike’ Isingoma, Michael Wawuyo snr, Benon Kibuuka Director: Donald Mugisha Boda Boda Thieves has been one of the feuring murderers, bodas are quite an most anticipated African films since its epidemic. premiere in Berlin at the beginning of Donald’s film brings to life the comthe year. mon myth of a good driver is judged The film sets out to present the by the damages on his car. In this case struggles of a teenager in a Kampala though, it’s about the bike and the guy slum – the drugs, peer pressure, leisure that captains it. His bike was shoddy in and parenting all rolled in one. a peculiar way – neon lights; colored pipes had the same customer and Set in Kireka, one of Kampala’s biggest those football stickers – all the queer slums, director Donald Mugisha presthings. He then goes on to separate the ents to us Abel, a teenager who, after image boda bodas have created for the a tragedy finds himself in a position riders (a rowdy one) from the people of running the family’s cash cow – the themselves. father’s boda boda.

This film gives them a face, emotions However, in search of quick money, and does the best to show us that Abel (Hassan Insingoma) easily takes much as they are rowdy and unruly, up an offer by a city crook to become they are indeed someone’s son, father a snatch and grab take away driver. and husband.

He makes the money, provides for his

the kind of film that many Ugandans and probably East Africans can easily relate with family and it was clear the young man was already making much more than his father.

On one drunken night, it all turns gloom when Abel too is robbed off the Boda Boda.

Boda Boda Thieves is the kind of film that many Ugandans and probably East Africans can easily relate with – motorbikes/boda bodas are the most used modes of transport for people that want to get to their destinations without hazards like traffic.

Yet again, in Kampala, where the film is set, boda bodas have contributed at least to sixty percent of the crime rate in the city – from violating traffic rules, snatching bags and phones to chauf-

We see this play out when the father (Michael Wawuyo) has to make a decision to make Abel the new boda guy, the mother (Prossy Rukundo) is against it; “olaba ekubba gwe omukulu, naye ate ono omwana wange,” aptly interpreted as; “if the bike can hit an experienced rider like you, what will happen to my baby.”

gang violence.

“It was hard working with him because he often got arrested during production and we had to pay for his bail,” says Mugisha in an interview with a Ugandan newspaper.

It was the backdrop of his real life experience that makes his character Abel more believable even when he’s not an actor – at the age of 17, he became a proud father of one, but that joy didn’t last long.

Isingoma is currently an inmate at Uganda’s Luzira maximum prison, he’s suspected to have been involved in a robbery where one person lost his life.

This makes us look at these guys in a different light, a reflection that before we rebuke and call them names, we have to know that they have feelings and just like us, they are trying to earn.

Mugisha is a renowned music video director in Uganda, he’s worked with the country’s biggest acts like jose Chameleone, Bebe Cool and Peter Miles among others. In 2007, he made history by directing Uganda’s first Channel O award winning video, Kube for Bebe Cool, Nazizi and Wyre.

According to Donald, besides Wawuyo, the cast was majorly made up of nonactors – Isingoma, the lead is indeed a ghetto youth that has been arrested more than ten times for petty theft and

It’s at the same time that his first film Divisionz was released; the film won the Best feature film at the Africa Film Academy, another first by a Ugandan film.

Divisionz was staring Bobi Wine (Robert Kyagulanyi), a local Ugandan artiste – in the film, Kyagulanyi was trying his best to get into the country’s music scene even when he was under privileged, also set in the slums.

Clearly, in between Divisionz and Boda Boda Theives, Mugisha has not shown much growth – these two films are set the same way, experimental and too stereotypical of their lead actors. Divisionz borrows almost half of Kyagulanyi’s real story and turns it into film and so does Boda Boda Theives on Isingoma – nowonder the acting is commendable – these guys were not acting, they were leaving their daily lives.

That’s why Boda Boda Theives in many ways feels like Mugisha just redid his first

movie or a spinoff of it, casting Isingoma, who happened to feature in the first one as ghetto rookie that stole people’s clothes and shoes in the same role – just that this time we got to meet his family.

Its understandable Ugandans are crazy about football but the director of photography gave a lot of emphasis to the Chelsea FC logo and other western brands which dented its identity.

Then to a foreign audience the speech delivery was on point but for many Ugandans, most of the times, the actress portraying Abel’s mother lacked emotion and got the pronunciation of the words in Luganda wrong – yet she was cast as a Muganda, not even the subtitles helped much, they were wrong at times.

Plus the film lacks the kind of action we may have anticipated – stealing Bodas is a dark business in Kampala, like a syndicate of sorts thus, we had planned to see something that took us to that evil but, we waited on and on, it was only at the end that it tries to but still never sets off.

The film derives its inspiration from an Italian classic, Bicycle Theives, on paper, it’s a very relevant story that has to be told and seen, however, ways of projecting it to the screen failed it’s greatness – wasted anxiety.

Reviews Beats of the Antanov Director: Hajooj Kuka

Kuka presents the community as one that has gotten used to the bombings, they are part of the routine that they even await for them

Beats of the Antonov is a film that documents the Sudan – SRF conflicts in the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile.

The film that’s directed and produced by Hajooj Kuka tends to focus on the role music has played to help harmonize the affected people, while using the same tool (music) to show us the other issues being faced.

Beats of the Antonov starts off by showing families running to take cover after the village is hit by bombs usually dropped by planes.

Then we go on to see how people in the Blue Nile celebrate surviving death – they laugh it off- before we fully get used to it, we are immediately immersed into the sounds of the people.

We meet their artistes, their ambitions, aspirations and learn why music means a lot to them – generally Kuka portraits a picture

of music, culture and identity in times of war.

For some reason, Kuka presents the community as one that has gotten used to the bombings, they are part of the routine that they even await for them – the youth sing and dance in the night as they wait for the plane to come bomb and go.

“If a plane attacked while people are sleeping, it would be devastating,” says the narrator.

In that way, it is the music that keeps them alert throughout the night.

In one of the interviews, Kuka said the importance of using music, dance and laughter, was to show the world that despite what Sudan has gone through, they can still afford happiness.

And we see the high spirit show up

Kuka

Beats of the Antonov is a film that documents the Sudan – SRF conflicts in the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile.

music, culture and identity in times of war.

struments made out of metallic pipes, saucepans and plastic bags.

For some reason, Kuka presents the community as one that has gotten used to the bombings, they are part of the routine that they even await for them – the youth sing and dance in the night as they wait for the plane to come bomb and go.

The film derives its name Antonov from fighter planes that we see dropping bombs at the beginning and one or two more scenes into the film.

The film that’s directed and produced by Hajooj Kuka tends to focus on the role music has played to help harmonize the affected people, while using the same tool (music) to show us the other issues “If a plane attacked while people are being faced. sleeping, it would be devastating,” Beats of the Antonov starts off by says the narrator. showing families running to take In that way, it is the music that keeps cover after the village is hit by bombs usually dropped by planes. them alert throughout the night.

Then we go on to see how people in the Blue Nile celebrate surviving In one of the interviews, Kuka said the death – they laugh it off- before we importance of using music, dance and fully get used to it, we are immedi- laughter, was to show the world that ately immersed into the sounds of despite what Sudan has gone through, they can still afford happiness. the people.

We meet their artistes, their ambitions, aspirations and learn why music means a lot to them –generally Kuka portraits a picture of

And we see the high spirit show up in most parts of the film – through the wrestling celebrations, various jam sessions where music comes from in-

Unlike many other films made about African crises, Beats of the Antonov doesn’t dwell so much on the infighting but rather a way the communities react to the crisis – this could be the reason why music and its various genres take the center stage.

“Our songs are dedicated to the people of the blue Nile and all the displaced in Sudan from Nuba Mountains to Darfur,” says a musician.

In many of the performances captured

by Kuka, there’s no clear separation between the artistes and the audience, it’s like this is the only time they generally feel the spirit of togetherness – the audience is part of the music and the music is part of the audience.

TV

Puppetry finds home on local youth station President Museveni breaks into a move; waving his hands and constantly holding his waist, he danced and chanted to different Jamaican patios. But he isn’t alone; he was in the company of former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and Speaker Rebecca Kadaga.

Mbabazi referred to himself as a ‘badous dude’ and Museveni on the other hand declared himself ‘Julyweather’, a quieter Kadaga warned them that, “you can take my shine but you can’t kill my swag”!

This happened in a scattered living room in one of the houses in Kiwatule, a Kampala suburb, where

Reefknot Communications, a production company is shooting Simimi, Uganda’s premiere puppetry TV show.

You could call it an indigenous version of Britain’s Splitting Image or an African addition on already famous political satire puppet shows like NTV Kenya’s XYZ, Nigeria’s Ogas on Top or South Africa’s Za News.

The show presents Uganda, as portrayed by eight puppets of politicians Museveni, Mbabazi, Kadaga, Police Chief Kale Kaihura, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda , two generic and neutral characters and the presenter/news anchor, Male Franchise.

The show that airs on Monday and Wednesdays on both Urban TV and Bukedde is fast becoming famous even when most of their skits currently last for less than five minutes.

Denis Agaba, one of the brains behind the crispy show says that the main idea into starting the shows was to tackle and communicate issues to a generation that is generally not interested in news.

The kind of generation that has to be entertained before they are forced to take in the information and it’s because of this, that the producers of Simimi feel like the show occupies a perfect slot – especially on the youth-

We believe in exposing corruption, because it is our role as citizens.......

the same story reported with different facts or when a story is overrun by developing events way after they’ve shot it. For instance, Agaba notes that at the end of last year, they were putting final touches to a clip of Amama Mbabazi as the Unbwogable Prime Minister when they received a call that he been sacked.

On other occasions, they’ve had to twist the script to accommodate the developments.

talking, when they blink and making eye contact or any other relevant mannerisms.

But all this takes time – each puppet on set is operated by two human puppeteers – one operates the headmovements of the eyes and lips, while the second one operates the body movements.

Having studied about puppetry in Kenya, Agaba still used a Kenyan to help him come develop the idea, and it had to be no one else but Godfrey Mwampembwa alias Gado, one of East Africa’s most reknown political satirist and cartoonist.

In fact, even the puppets are based on Gado’s cartoons.

As the cameras roll, the room is silent with many of the crew focused on the monitors, with a heavy Kinyankole accent, the puppet that relatively resembles the police chief seems to be interrogating an officer whose department is said to have lost vouchers worth shs900m to termites. ful charged channel Urban TV where they are sandwiched between motor mouth Mary Luswata’s Scoop on Scoop and Daniel Omara’s Business Unusual.

This is completely out of the daily headlines and it’s clearly referencing the recent scandal where accountability papers were all alleged to have been eaten by termites and not even their soft copies were available.

Directing the puppets

Too many stories

Making a puppetry show like Simimi is not a small affair; there are cameras, lights, actors, rehearsals and sound crew and makeup artistes. A puppetry show set could be smaller but is in no way different from that of a film.

As you may know, Uganda is never short of political scandals and dramedies, thus, these guys are always busy, their recording studio always has stashes of newspaper copies scattered, Agaba says they have to read as many papers as possible to get a balanced story.

They’ve had the puppeteers study the style, body languages like how they move their hand while they are

“We have to be up to date because if we present a skit that’s outdated, we won’t be making sense,” Agaba says.

The hardest episodes though, according to Francis Onyango, the production’s Technical Director, are the ones they have to shoot on a physical set outside their offices. These are scenes they will either do on streets or markets; “you know Ugandans are naturally excited by cameras, now if you add puppets in the mix, there’s confusion.” And it’s because of this that they mainly shoot behind the green screen.

Dangerous brand But even when the show has not run into problems with the law, many are still afraid to associate with its brand, these mostly include corporate companies that they have approached to sponsor them.

In fact, they’ve since gotten funding from a local NGO that truly believed in the work they are doing, but it all came on condition that they are never mentioned as sponsors or funders.

But this is not new to them, even before they rolled the cameras for the first episode, they were already in trouble; they were quizzed by the customs for some time; “they all wanted to know why we had puppets with a close resemblance to the president and other politicians,” Agaba says.

But after convincing them that they were artists and not terrorists, they were eventually allowed to bring the puppets in.

Much as Simimi may seem new on the Ugandan TV circuit, their story But it becomes hard for them at times especially when all papers have started in the early 2008, when Aga-

ba, then working with the producers of Rock Point, a social activist radio drama about responsible sex life, was selected to attend a training at the Kenya Institute of Puppet Theater.

Along with a few other Ugandans, also working with other NGOs, they were equipped with skills of using puppetry to send messages to the masses, however on coming back, from the fifteen that were in Nairobi, only seven are still practicing the art and three of them work with him on Simimi.

Delicate job A head of a single puppet costs at least six million according to Agaba and at the moment, they are only manufactured in Kenya and South Africa.

Thus when the team is working, they always make sure none of them is damaged because repairs are as costly too.

A day like today, a Wednesday is for shooting, on average, they can only shot an episode. After hours of working, the guys are worried Mbabazi’s puppet seems to be having difficulties to blink and move its eyes.

If it comes to the worst, they may have to write him out of the future projects while he’s transported for fixing.

Earlier this year, they had a similar problem when Museveni’s hand was torn while playing the guitar, they had to fly it out for repair and him being a primary character, they ended up cheating scenes by using one hand more than the other.

it’s through calls that we get to here from the likes of Miria Matembe, Kizza Besigye and Ken Lukyamuzi among others.

Political satire in Uganda Political satire is not a new thing in Uganda, we’ve in the past had the Amarula family mimic the president and the cabinet, Herbert Segujja alias Mendo has made a career out of perfecting President Museveni’s mannerisms, though none of these have actually contributed to the debate.

Many have focused on making people laugh using the character of the president and his cabinet; you will not see Mendo in a controversial skit of say the president gifting Ugandans with the gay bill and then taking with the other hand and neither did Amarula when they were at their peak.

And this is what could differentiate the Simimi which is Swahili for ‘It’s not me’ from other satirists around, not only contributing to a debate but desiring change using a rubber faced, latex bodied politicians controlled by mid aged youths.

But it’s challenging, the group is still struggling to convince the public that they are here to send a message than perform comedy.

“We believe in exposing corruption, because it is our role as citizens Today, whenever they have a pressing though at the moment, we know issue that doesn’t involve any of the people are more interested in seepuppet characters, they improvise ing puppets that resemble their by using phone calls on Male’s news, leaders than what they actually say,” says Onyango.

Agaba says that much as they are not pushing the envelope enough especially on many issues that concern the common man, they are

sure they will have some impact as time goes on, especially now when the country is approaching the election time.

Audrey Ninsiima, the productions manager says she loves her job because it’s different and fresh, in the past she has been part of stage productions and small budget productions but notes that puppetry is key to sending out messages because it doesn’t give its audience chances to hold sentiments towards an actor or actress.

“At times message delivery in shows is distorted because people are concentrating on actor X because he’s cute or sexy.”

Ninsiima coordinates the show from script writing, voice recording and must be present when shooting is taking place.

Besides the TV show, the group takes puppetry to communities to help organisations sensitize and drive campaigns. They’ve been involved with UHMG’s true Manhood campaign, another one about domestic violence and were also part of the drive to have men circumcised.

Puppetry on Ugandan TV has never been such huge thing and neither has it ever been considered an art.

May be in the past few years, some TVs have adopted puppetry shows like Sesame street, Teletubbies and Lamb Chops Play- Along, among others from the US, but all these were tailored for children.

In a country where this kid of programming is somewhat considered childish, where entertainers dance to the tune of our leaders for funding, you can’t help but pat the Simimi production on a back for being bold enough to dream and implement.

You’re seeing white, We see an advert space! contact us via kommandmedia@gmail.

Durban International Film Festival

Nathan Magoola, a film maker recieves his award during the Durban Film Festival

Ugandans impress at this year’s DIFF The Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) is said to have started as a small gathering in Kwazulu Natal in 1979. Then it was about people from Durban that had a thing for films coming together to watch them.

ing for in with the same excitement.

tion project.

The film that premiered on the second day of the festival had a full house and a Question and Answer session coordinated by Sarah Dawson, a film critic with Mail and Guardian and also assistant Director of the Africa in Motion Film Festival was appreciated by many.

In the Durban Talent Programme, Uganda was represented by Samson Ssenkaaba a famous fashion designer, graffiti artist, poet and film maker mostly known as Xenson – he’s mostly known as an art director for most of the first music videos done

by Deddac in the early 2000s.

In fact, even its later screenings were well attended – it was that film that It was a busy weekend considering kept coming up whenever they were that the festival was happening at the discussions about the future of Afrisame time as the MTV MAMAs, Dur- can film. ban had to share coas coming from the artistes and their bling, D’banj’s One of the members in the audience loud self, a selfie seeking Chamesaid the film made him realize that Afleone and Bebe Cool in Katsha’s gold rica has a lot to share along with the coated Lamborgini had many film stories the tell the world- “The film lovers distracted considering that all shows us what an important aspect these artistes shared a hotel with the these bikes are to regular Ugandans.” festival.

Mugisha’s film wasn’t done yet; it was Imagine all those Nigerian film mak- also nominated for the best feature ers that found themselves screaming film going head to head with the after bumping into Davido and Don sensational Necktie Youth, Rights of Jazzy in the elevators, this was chaos. Passage, Fevers and The Eye of the cyclone among others.

The festival opened on Thursday 17 with Director Sara Blecher’s Ayanda, a But Mugisha wasn’t the only Ugandan cross cultural film between Nigerians effort that mesmerized at the festiand South Africans. The film follows val, Nathan Magoola, another film Fulu Mugovhani as Ayanda, a 21 year producer who had gone to Durban old hipster that embarks on a journey with just an idea won over the judges of self-discovery while trying to save with his Sunflowers Behind a Dirty her dead father’s memory.

Fence which is an adaption of Angela Emurwon play.

But besides the screenings from elsewhere, Uganda films and produc- Magoola won the Durban FilmMart ers shone at the festival – first was award - CineMart Award, which is Donald Mugisha’s Boda Boda Theives sponsored by the co-production marscreening on the second day. It was a ket of the International Film Festival highly anticipated in Uganda and you Rotterdam, that is awarded to a ficcould hardly imagine Africa was wait-

Adnan Ssenkumba, a sound designer known for his work on Bala Bala Sese, The Reform and Mira Niar’s Queen of Katwe, and Daniel Echwalu, a city photographer whose film making skills soar last year with Trash Cash, a short film about kids that sell used plastic.

Now 36 years later, on Saturday after eight days of educating, networking and multiple screenings, DIFF 2015 wrapped with one more film, The Prophet.

The writer was one of the four African film critics invited for the Talent Press programme with others coming from Nigeria and South Africa.

The festival ended with awards where Sudanese film Beats of the Antanov won Best Documentary and Arterial Network’s Artwatch Africa Award.

Best Director went to 22 year old Sibs Shongwe-La Mer for his film, Necktie Youth for “for displaying a unique, contemporary voice weaving together poetic images and a striking view of South African youth with a boldness seldom seen in South African cinema,” according to the jury.

Although Boda Boda Theives lost the Best Feature Award to Partho SenGupta’s Sunrise, James Tyler, one of the producers noted that they were proud their film got a nod.

If you want information about his house!

read a blog......

But if you want to read about his art or his latest album and what it may mean for the industry, Read and follow - Tsup Ug We write for a purpose! http://tsupug.blogspot.ug/

TV Preview

Can Ne-Yo save

Coke Studio?

Coke Studio made a comeback for their second edition, but at the look of things they had forgotten the creativity in a place far away We were excited about Coke Studio Season one, Joel Ssebunjo, Lillian Mbabazi, Qwela Band and the acts from other countries like South Africa’s HHP, Nigeria’s MI or Kenyan rapper Octopizzo.

Yeah, the beverage company was indeed at their creative best when they were casting for that show; a mixture between contemporary African sounds with the continent’s pop culture.

Seriously who will ever forget that collaboration between Octopizzo and Selif Keita or Joel Sebunjo and Camp Mula’s Ms Karun? Season

one of Coke Studio Africa wasn’t only a music show but a testament that music knows no genres or boundaries, this edition was the truth.

Fast forward to 2014, Coke Studio made a comeback for their second edition, but at the look of things they had forgotten the creativity in a place far away.

Of course the season had more continental stars than the previous one but lacked an X factor to be remembered; for instance, it had the likes of Burna Boi, Mr. Flavor, Phyno, Navio, Jackie Chandiru,

Rabbit, Iyanya and an overly hyped Victoria Kimani.

That was a crush lane of course – too many stars we were not sure could pull off good TV. At the end we had more than noise with bits of music coming out of the all red studio! Of course not so good for TV or the ears, but as you could imagine, a sizeable number of Ugandans and Africans did enjoy the season that it wasn’t a surprise that the producers recalled it for the third season.

A list that was released for this year’s edition is indeed mouthwa-

tering, that’s if the producers hired the right creative directors. This year, they tempered with experimental acts like Maurice Kirya, MI Abaga, Elani and FidQ. But they were not really done, they also went for almost the top acts in all the participating countries and pitted them in the same brainstorming room; Think Jose Chameleone, Dama DoBling, 2Face Idibia, Juliana Kanyomozi, Alikiba and Jua Cali…yes.

But they felt they had not suffocated the room enough, so they threw Ne-Yo into the mix!

It had all started as a rumor; however, after the Grammy winning artist tweeted about the show noting that he was privileged to be performing at the show.

The news caused ripples; the fact that he was going to share a stage with our own Maurice Kirya was already heartwarming.

But for artisans that had felt like

the second season of the show had been thrown to the dogs and thus the loss of viewers.

With almost a month before NeYo performs at the Lugogo Cricket Oval in Uganda and an unspecified time for the show to premiere, the main question is, can he save Coke Studio?

Many think no!

Not that the season will flop, but with a cast that has almost the most influential acts from the different African region, Coke Studio may save itself.

Sarah Wangechi, a fan of the first season notes that this edition is basically going to benefit from the fan base artistes have built than the art it introduced at the beginning.

“With the numbers and following Chameleone or Alikiba have built over the years, the show can do without Ne-Yo, in fact, he’s a destruction,” she says.

Others almost in synch with Wangechi wonder why Coke once again went for a person that is not relevant musically, at the moment.

For instance Winnie Nakate notes that Ne-Yo was an in thing in 2008 but can’t shake a ground now; “Am imagining if you’re bringing an international act for a showcase that involves the cream of Africa, they should be at their best, speaking Africa, Ne-Yo doesn’t have a song that is more popular than Wale Wale in Uganda, Ice Prince’s Mutumina or Cynthia Morgan’s German juice in Nigeria.

Much as many people The Review talked to believe Ne-Yo won’t add a thing to the show, they still think having him on the set is some sort of props for Coke as a musical brand and thus adds to the excitement and anticipation.

Radio Review

Talk ‘n’ Talk: The top mid-morning weekend show?

You’ve definitely listened to them and probably at first, you expected them to suck at being critics! Of course it’s very hard to know how the very first episode of Talk ‘n’ Talk on Dembe FM sounded and what they even talked about.

Many years later today, the show that has a reputation of telling off celebrities has quite a following, in fact, it’s very easy to find saloons, Boda boda riders, women in markets and those in offices gathered listening.

And the shows’ viewerships spans class, age and profession – for instance, it’s one of the few show majorly listened to by presenters of other media houses and they are not afraid to say it.

Kato Lubwama, a presenter on famous Buganda royalist radio station CBS is a regular panelist on the show, Talk and Talk team; Batt Badru, Jenkins Mukasa, Eddy Sendi and Kaswhile others like Abby Mukiibi, Doug- uku pose with one of the many awards they’ve won this year las Lwanga and Flavia Namulindwa among others, are big time listeners.

Kampala Central parliamentary seat in Phillip Mukasa, one of the fans that 2011 though lost to the incumbent. have attended the live shows twice The Talk ‘n’ Talk is a mixture of both says Talk ‘n’ Talk is simply too human old and new wine – from a millennial The topic was as relevant and valid at , they have artistes they love and thus Isaac alias Kasuku as host, veteran reggae artiste Jenkins Mukasa, Artiste the time since artistes Judith Babirye, won’t pretend but again, they won’t Eddy Yawe and Ragga Dee among oth- be afraid to tell them off when they Manager and critic Edward Ssendikadiwa and Batt Badru, an entertain- ers have all declared their intentions are wrong. to run for different political offices. ment reporter for The East African “Sometimes one of them will refrain Radio, the show boosts of one of the from commenting about a certain most diverse panels that can easily During the discussions, Lubwama artiste especially when they are tight balance analysis between now and noted that he’s vying for office to then. correct what had been mishandled by buddies,” Mukasa says noting for him that is what makes the show natuthe regime, he seemed to sync with ral unlike others where people will Once in a while, Kasuku and his troop Yawe since they belong to the same belittle artistes that are not close to ambush the Bat Valley Theater audito- political party. them and heap praises even when rium for live broadcasting – with an audience. Fans move from all walks to Unknown to the two, Ragga Dee who they are not due to friends. attend the live shows, here they don’t happens to belong to the leading only get to see their stars but also get party was at home listening in, after Another urdent listener likes the show to ask direct questions. realizing his party was on the wall be- for it’s candidness, she says most cause of the two guests, he hurriedly of the times you will read an article about a celebrity in the news, and it It usually gets interesting when they drove to Bat Valley Theater. basically looks like it was written by have local artistes around – they will the celebrity themselves; “But when try to attack with an aim of discredit- Amidst cheers, he said he couldn’t Talk ‘n’ Talk interviewing, they will ing the image of the presenters. For take what these fellow artistes were it’s get to the dirty part and will try so instance, during a live session once, saying about his party. much to discredit your version until Bobi Wine noted that by the time he they get the truth. was 18, he had made his own money And this wasn’t the first time an and thus never joined music for the artiste was landing on Talk ‘n’ Talk un- So is Talk ‘n’ Talk the weekend’s money as one of the panelist had announced, in the past it’s been Tuff golden child? noted.

B, after his song only received negatives during a review, Bebe Cool, King According to Joel Isabirye, one of the That’s when a panelist reminded him Michael, Kapalaga as well as radio brains behind the blockbuster, yes, that he had never fully paid the man presenters from other stations have the show boosts of likely the bigthat produced his first single, Kagoma, walked in to join the conversation. gest listenership, and he says this is almost a decade back, the situation got ugly as the artiste tried to protect In fact, last year, after the show host, because of talented team that retake their work serious and his image before the fans that had Kasuku was assaulted by Eddy Kenzo searches, they present it in a conversational turned up in throngs. during a press conference, in his sup- yet, form. port, Mukiibi, a famous host on CBS At the end of August, their topic sent a message cautioning artistesFor the past couple of years Talk ‘n’ rotated around artistes that are join- while signing off, he noted that he Talk has continued to sore, the latest ing the political race of next year’s was listening in. was when the show picked up two general elections, originally, the show awards at The Uganda Entertainment had invited comedian Kato Lubwama, But what makes the show special, Awards as the Best Radio show and also an aspirant for Lubaga North so special that presenters of rival Best Radio Host for Kasuku. parliamentary seat and Eddy Yawe, stations abandon their workplace staa musician that contested for the tions to listen in.

Above: Part of the crowd that turns up for Talk and Talk live at the Bat Valley Theater Isaac Katende alias Kuku Wazabanga or Kasuku accepting the award for Best Radio personality at the Uganda Entertainment Awards

The genesis of Talk ‘n’ Talk........

In the wake of Kasuku and Talk and Talk’s win at the Uganda Entertainment Awards, Joel Isabirye panned a soulful post as a tribute to the team As the congratulations continue pouring out to Kasuku and the talk and talk team, for those who could have missed the story. One Sunday evening in the April of 2011 i walked into my home and found the maid watching a guy on star tv.

He was doing a gossip streak and sounded opinionated, fun, interesting and he had attitude. He I think spotted an afro too. I recall he was telling holiday makers how to spend their holiday (and you know how he talks).i laughed for a few seconds.

I listened to him and watched him for about five minutes and knew this guy was gold. The next day I arrived at Dembe fm and asked the staff who did work at star tv as well that i was looking for his number. I also sent feelers to Namanve where i was told he was based. He came in one hour for a meeting and walked out of my office with his appointment letter to do two things. One a gossip show at 7.30am and at 5.30pm, then a talk show strictly on entertainment, we worked on a panel joining him and we called the show talk and talk...meaning endless talking...

Over the years, the show became huge and right now it is the leading

show on Saturdays at 10 am where Kampala is filled with talk shows on almost every radio station.

There are several reasons why the show became this huge. But, the main ones are that the team, (and their leader Kuku Wazabanga) is talented. They are also serious; they may laugh on the show but they understand what they are supposed to do and follow up. If you recall their discussion on Miss Uganda over the years you could see a team that made sure they had content before they appeared on air.

Above all they are friends; it means they gel and they have a good conversation, they can decide to talk about a trailer that fell in bweyogerere for the whole show and you will still find the show interesting.

It’s one of the things that made kaliso liso powerful...the friendly banter.

Talk and talk and Kasuku are observant story tellers very selective on the detail to speak about in the chit chat that is going on, that works significantly for their relatability.

They are comfortable downtown as much as they are comfortable uptown.so they have no problem discussing bwaise and kololo and still have a conversation that is fun to listen to.

The lessons for me are that it is important to stick to the principle of merit when recruiting anyone for anything, most of the time I have

only recruited on merit and I tend to see that if you do not recruit on the basis of friendship but recruit capable people later you can become friends with them.

But at the onset of recruitment look for capable people. They will make things happen, the show was huge from day one and it has grown to become major...

I wish kasuku and his friends the best in future because they have transformed into agenda setters, when a show becomes an agenda setter it becomes a show that can be discussed in parliament.

Very few shows ever reach that level in the world, Talk and talk is a show that will survive over the next decade even with the demographic shifts in listenership that we have been realizing over the last thirty six months.

It fits in right at the middle (of the old generation and the new generation of radio audiences).it is a show Moses Matovu will listen to and it is a show that Barbie J will listen to, I cannot say the same for most other shows in the radio market today.

Kasuku supplies punchlines everytime he talks, that for a presenter who is not a comedian is hard to do. But every single time he is on air the end of a break is impactful... you must be talented and are a very good communicator to achieve that.to cut the long story short.

Continuer à faire du bon travail!!!!

Multichoice throws hedonistic content bash in Mauritius

Multichoice Africa sure knows how to throw a hedonistic party if anything to assert itself as the numero uno conduit for the globe’s top three content producers. Tuesday’s opening night of the second edition of its aptly titled #OnlyTheBest Content Showcase Extravaganza in Mauritius took the form ‘One of the salient of a cabaret-styled Broadway-themed show. Guests had their names plastered on the walkway in the form of Holly- challenges is the recent wood stars. They included Nollywood star Genevieve Nnaji alongside Rita Dominic, Desmond Elliot and Ramsey subscription fees hike Nuoah. Music guests Flavour, Stonebwoy and The Mavins provided the soundtrack guests tapped their feet to. especially for Ugandan

BET, Comedy Central, BBC and M-Net.

Jacobs lauded the success of MultiChoice’s GOtv DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television) low-cost offering, which currently operates in eight countries adding that it has brought digital television to homes and has supported governments in the digital migration process. But he also acknowledged the challenges which the business faces. “Our growth over the last 20 years has been a result of massive investments we have made in people, content and technology – but as with any business, not all of these investments or changes have hit the spot. So we have from time to time re-evaluated our position and made changes to our MultiChoice Africa’s CEO Tim Jacobs strategies. At the end of the day, howtook time to make some bold promises. ever, it is really our subscribers we have DStv viewers’ “We believe television is an extremely to thank for staying with us, trusting powerful tool that can educate, entertain us to deliver the best television experiand inform. The evolution of this me- - writes Moses Serugo ence and customer service to make their dium has become fast and furious and as experience world class,” said Jacobs. a business we are constantly evolving to stay ahead. MultiChoice’s business is built And one of the salient challenges is the around three key pillars: people; content recent subscription fees hike especially – in the form of great entertainment, for Ugandan DStv viewers announced news and sport – and the latest cuttingon the same day the continent’s media edge technology. Our mission is to enand gliterati were partying on Tuesday sure that our subscribers do not miss out night, subscribers in Uganda had to conon any of the stories, events or moments tend with news of a 25% hike in their fees that are shaping our future.” Some of the owing to the battering the Uganda shilchannels previewing their content at the ling is taking against the US Dollar, the Mauritius showcase include Sony, Superpricing currency of the pay-TV service.

Sport, Zee TV, A+E, Disney, MTV Base,

Tanzania to get its own Maisha Magic channel, Uganda left out in the cold

Ugandan DStv subscribers will have to wait a little longer for their own Maisha Magic channel even as Tanzania celebrates the launch of Maisha Magic Bongo starting October 1st, 2015. The creation of the Tanzania-centric channel is in light of M-Net’s vision to create channels for each homogenous target market for Southern and Eastern Africa by language, culture, taste or a combination thereof. “We are proud to announce the launch of a new channel exclusively for Tanzania on October 1st called Maisha Magic Bongo (DStv Channel 160),” MNet Director: East and Southern Africa & Lusophone countries, Theo Erasmus revealed at the

MultiChoice Content Showcase on Saturday morning at the Outrigger Mauritius Beach Resort.

He also announced a new Angolan Premium channel Jango Luxo, launching October 11 alongside the production of a local version of the international smash hit reality show, The Voice, there. Zambia and Zimbabwe, riding on the two-month old Zambezi Magic channel that is sadly not available in East Africa also received promises of more local content in the near future.

Uganda can only hold out hope in Maisha Magic (East) Channel Head, Margaret Mathore’s revelation about expansion plans for the East African powerhouse channel. “We have every intention to go hyper-local with

Maisha Magic and plan to start channels for each market in East Africa,” she said. Still, only Tanzania will benefit for now with the premiere of exciting local content, like hip-hop and Bongo music show Mzooka, a powerful local drama series called Talaaka and celebrity cooking show, Jikoni na Marion. She, however, affirmed that MME will licence content grown on East African soil beyond re-boradcasting derivative content from the region’s free-to-air channels in order to address the entertainment needs of Ugandan and East African viewers and develop the region’s film industry.

In the next issue of the....

>>We talk to Be My Date’s Bettinah about TV, acting and the future. >>We explore the phenomenon of the new TV Stations and how they are giving competitors a run for their money >>We talk to Kampala people about the TV series that are influencing them the most. >>We talk to the actors, crew and producers of Wako – we also have an exclusive about the plush premiere at Theatre Labonita. >>And so much more……

You can now get your favorite Film, Radio and TV magazine in the comfort of your hands using your smart gadget.

Log on to www.tsupug.blogspot.com

Africa dreams Safaris

www.afrikadreamssafaris.com