Euro-Uganda Film Festival is back

 

 

Event: Euro-Uganda Film Festival

Venue: National Theater

Date: Sunday June 10, 2018

 

 

KAMAPALA - Chebet, a story of a young black woman who ‘runs away' from female genital mutilation, is among the carefully selected motion pictures which centre on cultural heritage and will feature at this year's Euro-Uganda film festival.

 

Polly Kamukama, the festival curator, said this year's selection was "diverse" in terms of theme and style.

 

Thematically, the films cover a range of topical issues that Ugandan audiences relate to: War, dysfunctional families, racism, gender relations, women empowerment and climate change et al.

 

But Chebet, a silent painful reality many girls in Uganda and Africa continue to suffer, will headline the movies on show.

 

In the short film, a young woman requires determination and luck to escape from a camp somewhere in Uganda where numerous teenage girls have been gathered to undergo a traditional cruel circumcision.

 

Sandra Paesen, the chargé d'affaires at the European Union Delegation to Uganda, and Fiona Inci, the British Council director, announced the film festival which starts Sunday at a briefing in Kampala at the EU head office.

 

It is the fourth time Europeans are organising a film gig in Kampala.

 

From Sunday June 10 throughout the 20th, an assortment of exciting and equally educative fiction art, documentaries, and animation films from 11 European countries will be screened in Kampala.

 

Alongside the 11 European features, 10 Ugandan short films will also be cast.

 

Paesen said the festival intended to bring the "best in new cinema" to Kampala audiences as well as link local filmmakers to ‘seasoned' European auteurs.

 

Notable films like I'm Not a Witch, The Secret of Kells, Brothers of the Wind and Land of Mine, which dramatizes a grim episode at the end of the Second World War when teenage German prisoners of war were forced into mine clearance work, will be played to celebrate cultural heritage.

 

"Diversity is the word. We shall be celebrating cultural heritage through film," said Fiona Inci, director at the British Council. 

 

The aim is to support and improve the Ugandan film industry, she said.

 

To reach diverse backgrounds, some films will be screened open cinema, at a playground at Kamwokya, the national theatre, national theatre gardens, and Design Hub (Industrial Area), at Alliance Française and Jazz Ville Bugolobi.

 

Most of the films on the line up serve as powerful tools for social commentary, Kamukama said.

 

(Video Jockey) VJ Junior will help ‘break' the language barrier for some of the audiences who may not be familiar with the film language and subtitles.

 

Entrance to all screening is free.

 

Film maker Waheedah Mwagale, commended the innovation from the EU which will "give Ugandan movie makers some lessons to learn."