Isaac Nabwana, Wakaliwood's Tarantino

[GeneChing]

‘Africa’s Tarantino’ Cranks Out Hit Films in Ugandan Slum
Wakaliwood churns out hit films for about $180 apiece; door-to-door DVD sales
Wakaliwood is home to Uganda's growing film business—low-budget action movies produced and directed by Isaac Nabwana. The former street vendor-turned filmmaker has been dubbed ‘Africa's Tarantino’ for his violent, high-octane comedies. Photo: Joe Parkinson/The Wall Street Journal
By JOE PARKINSON
March 1, 2016 10:35 a.m. ET

KAMPALA, Uganda—On a potholed road next to an open sewer, four men faced off in a Kung Fu battle. A khaki-clad soldier ran up, firing a machine gun fashioned from old lawn-mower parts. Two cannibals caked in mud and dried grass approached the bloody corpses and licked their lips.

Welcome to Wakaliwood, a movie studio and production house that is riding a wave of popularity in East Africa and drawing a cult following overseas, with crowded screenings in Hong Kong, Stockholm and New York. Based in a ramshackle Kampala slum called Wakaliga, Wakiliwood churns out a movie a month. The average cost, say the filmmakers, is about $180.

The thrifty theatrics are the brainchild of Isaac Nabwana, a local resident who has made 45 feature-length movies in the slum. Dubbed “Africa’s Tarantino” for his high-octane, violent comedies, the director cites Chuck Norris, the Rambo movies and television’s cop classic “Hawaii Five-0” as inspirations. His movies, including “Ebola Hunters,” “The Cannibals” and “Valentine: Satanic Day,” fill theaters across the country and have been watched millions of times on social media.

“My aim is to entertain the world,” Mr. Nabwana said recently as he briefed his Kung Fu fighters and cannibals before another take. “Uganda has lots of problems, but look at what we’re creating here. Soon I hope Mr. Tarantino will be compared to me!”, referring to American director Quentin Tarantino.


Isaac Nabwana

A 47-second clip from Mr. Nabwana’s violent action comedy “Who Killed Captain Alex?” has been watched on Facebook more than 11 million times. A Kickstarter campaign Mr. Nabwana hoped would raise $200 garnered almost $15,000. He used it to buy cars and trucks to blow up on screen.

That’s a big cash injection for a studio that relies mostly on community help. The actors, with stage names like Jet Li and Apollo Creed, are local volunteers who drive moto-taxis and sell vegetables at roadside markets. The weapons and vehicles used as props are made from scrap metal and car parts.

Mr. Nabwana edits his films at home on computers he assembled from discarded motherboards and keyboards. Local children, including Mr. Nabwana’s daughter, Rachel, train for roles at Wakaliwood’s in-house Kung Fu school, run by actor and Wing Chun expert Bukenya Charles, who calls himself Bruce Yu.

Ugandans accustomed to watching movies from Hollywood and Nigeria’s silver-screen juggernaut, Nollywood, have flocked to the dramas set in familiar places.

Wakaliwood’s success persuaded a 45-year-old New Yorker, Alan Hofmanis, to move to the slum. After his girlfriend dumped him in 2012, he happened to see a Wakaliwood clip at a Lower East Side bar. He traveled to Kampala days later. Now known affectionately as the muzungu, or white foreigner, he writes, co-directs, acts and promotes the movies abroad.

“I worked in film for a decade and no one is innovating as much as these guys,” said Mr. Hofmanis, who played Jesus in one recent film and wore a hollowed-out goat carcass in another. “They’re real-life action heroes. They’re throwing everything into it.”


Local children train for movie roles at Wakaliwood’s in-house Kung Fu school. PHOTO: JOE PARKINSON/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Messrs. Nabwana and Hofmanis are making Uganda’s first action trilogy, about Joseph Kony, the infamous Lord’s Resistance Army leader. They hope it will be screened this year at the Cannes Film Festival.

“People get very confused that we’re making successful movies from a slum,” said Mr. Hofmanis.

Camera cranes and tripods are made from tractor parts and other scrap. To re-create gunshot injuries, Mr. Nabwana’s wife, Harriet, fills condoms with fake blood.

“We used to fill them with real animal blood, but actors got sick with a disease passed on from cows. So we switched to food coloring,” she explains. In addition to her costume-direction duties, she acts, runs rehearsal workshops and does camera work.

Wakaliwood’s mechanical mastermind is Dauda Bissaso, an actor also known as “the engineer.” He used to run a street-food business called Obama Japati, after the U.S. president. Now he builds weapons, vehicles and technical equipment from scrap metal. Mr. Nabwana calls him “a genius with a blowtorch.” He built one weapon based on the huge machine gun used by Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Predator,” using a motorcycle engine to rotate the barrels.

“I never went to school, but I watched engineers and mechanics, and I knew my brain worked the same way,” Mr. Bissaso said recently while demonstrating how a harplike musical instrument fires bullets from hidden chambers. “I got the idea for this from the Antonio Banderas movie ‘Desperado,’ ” where guitar cases housed heavy weaponry.

Mr. Bissaso is putting finishing touches on a full-scale fake helicopter. Mr. Nabwana said he long coveted a chopper and remembers being chased by one as a child during Uganda’s civil war.

Although actors and crew work for nothing, they get to keep half the profits from any DVDs they sell on the street.

“We do man-to-man, door-to-door all over the country to sell them,” said Mr. Nabwana. Nearby, a young volunteer was hunched over a stack of DVD burners. The films sell for up to 3,000 shillings—about $1—and the team has a window of only about one week before they are pirated. They often travel in full costume, as commandos, cannibals or zombies, to maximize sales.

Mr. Nabwana is already preparing the next generation of Wakaliwood stars. On a recent day, he watched as six child actors practiced roundhouse kicks and Wing Chun poses for a film called “Bad Black,” based on “Karate Kid.”

“Movies are in the DNA of this ghetto,” he said. “Blowing things up is the highest form of creativity.”

Nigerian ghetto exploitation films. I'd totally watch this.

[GeneChing]

Two international reports on Nabwana and we still have yet to see an actual photo.

Kung Fu films inspire Uganda's "Bruce Lee"
Source: Xinhua | 2017-10-03 19:38:15 | Editor: huaxia


A visitor poses with the wax figure of actor Bruce Lee at the first wax museum in Selangor State, Malaysia, Aug. 15, 2013. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung)

by Ronald Ssekandi

KAMPALA, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- In the shanty slum of Wakaliga on the outskirts of Uganda's capital Kampala is a movie studio that is little known at home but is gaining international fame.

Clogged trenches, semi-permanent houses are what makes part of the set at Wakaliwood, a movie studio run by Ramon Film Productions.

Isaac Nabwana is the brain behind Wakaliwood. In his childhood, Nabwana's brothers used to narrate to him Chinese movies they had watched at the cinemas. Nabwana could only imagine the moves in the movies.

"I was inspired by the stories of the Chinese movies. I remember some names like Wang Yu, Bruce Lee and later on Jet Li and Jackie Chan," Nabwana told Xinhua in a recent interview.

This sparked off his dream in the 1990s that one day he would set up a studio to produce movies. To begin with, he picked Kung Fu trainees from his brother's school to shoot video clips.

"The stories were not connecting because we did not have a script. It was a puzzle to me," he said.

Nabwana learnt how to write a script and in 2010, he released the movie titled, "Who Killed Captain Alex?' Since then, he has directed several movies, in which Kung Fu stunts never missed.

"We love the Chinese culture of Kung Fu which has its own importance like body fitness, self-defense ... we need that in our society, it is almost a medicine," Nabwana said.

"BRUCE LEE OF UGANDA"

As Nabwana continues to get international attention, he is focusing on the Chinese market. Apart from China having a big market, Nabwana hopes the Kung Fu stunts in his movies will speak more to the Chinese population.

One of the latest movies he has directed is "Bruce U," which was acted basing on Chinese film star Bruce Lee.

"Bruce Lee was famous here, and I think he is one of the few Chinese who sold the Chinese image in Uganda. And now we have Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen. But Bruce Lee made a very remarkable impact on us, so that is why I decided to call it 'Bruce U' meaning Bruce Lee of Uganda," Nabwana said.

The movie was acted by both Chinese and Ugandan actors. Some of the scenes of the movie were shot at China's the South Shaolin Temple.

The movie tells the story of a Uganda boy Kiwa, who loved Chinese Kung Fu since his childhood and gets a chance to learn Kung Fu at a Shaolin Temple.

"Smile Africa", a project aimed at helping spread Chinese culture in Africa, played a major role in the production of the movie by inviting Nabwana and his cast to the South Shaolin Temple to shoot some scenes.

AIMING FOR INDUSTRY TAKEOFF

Uganda's movie industry is still in its formative stages. Vincent Bagiire, permanent secretary of the ministry of information, communication, and technology, said partnership with countries like China are critical in developing the industry.

Bagiire, who was speaking during the premiere of "Bruce U" in August, said the movie industry can contribute to a more informed society, help shape attitudes and develop the minds of local viewers.

"We need to expedite the process to protect the huge potential that the industry presents to cause employment, as well as economic and cultural growth," he said.

Nabwana decided to have his studio in Wakaliga as it was not only his home area but also budget friendly.

"I know we need good cameras, computers but even without, you can not just sit, we have the talent, we have the passion, we can do it," he said.

"We have people who can make props, makeup artists, we have so many people coming together," he added.

Nabwana acknowledges that budget constraints are always a key challenge but is optimistic that over time, the industry will start generating revenue.

His dream is to set up a studio on a 10-acre piece of land, though he is currently operating on a piece of land that is less than half an acre.

"We are training children, they are ten in number. They are going to be the future of this industry. If you are to build a film industry, we have to start from children," he said.

"My dream is seeing a big studio with the young generation learning how to edit, direct and write scripts. That is my dream if I get money."

Nabwana has partnered with an American film promoter Alan Hofmanis to ensure his movies reach the international market.

Hofmanis told Xinhua in a recent interview that they have arranged tours to Europe, India, Kazakhstan, and the United States to promote Wakaliwood movies.