There’s a new Hollywood in town, based in the most unlikely country, Uganda. Wakaliwood is the home of Ramon Production Films, an emerging low budget film company which has gone from strength to strength in recent years. The company invites people to their studios on Wakaliga Road in Kampala to create films with a very low budget of between £1 to £140, or as the company’s founder Mr Nabwana describes it films with “no budget”.
They have described Tarantino as their founding inspiration, which clearly comes across in the their initial film Who Killed Captain Alex?. This is Wakaliwood’s major hit so far, and has taken the western world, in particular the US, by storm in the last few years. It is growing into a Cult classic, though classic or Hollywood are certainly not the initial words that enter your head when you first watch the film, but depending on your humour and taste this could become your new favourite.
Do not expect anything glamorous when you watch it. I’d describe it as more of a slapstick Tarantino spoof, but Nabwana has shown great inventiveness and has clearly tapped into a calling for this kind of film with almost 500,000 hits on youtube and a kickstarter campaign, which has raised over $13,000 towards new films since starting the pledge a year ago.
It has also been discussed by the BBC, the Independent, BT and Sky in the last year. Wakaliwood are now even welcoming visitors from all parts of the world, with over 200 visitors flying to Uganda in the last year alone in order to visit the film studios, where some have had the opportunity to appear in upcoming films.
Who Killed Captain Alex? is very much love it or hate it, and some people will watch thinking “what on earth is this?”, but it s clearly engaging an audience that enjoys a low budget spoof. Madrid recently packed out a cinema for a screening of the film.
Regardless of whether the film is for you, Mr Nabwana’s story is truly inspiring. After disregarding the advice of from friends and family that “you need a lot of money” to make action films, Nabwana has not only managed to engage the people of Uganda to get involved with making films but has also caught the eye of the rest of the world. I think he deserves major credit for making the best from what he has got, and he has proven that initiative and risk-taking can certainly pay off.
“Movies for me are like friendship. I don’t do it for the money, I do it to communicate”. – Isaac Nabwana
Take a look at their website here. You can also watch their first epic hour-long movie Who Killed Captain Alex below.
#Peace.Love.WhoKilledCaptainAlex
