David Richard Koff was an American maker of documentary films, social activist, writer, researcher, and editor. His interest in social and economic justice has shaped a career largely spent exploring human rights, colonialism, resistance movements, racism, labor unions, and the oppression and exploitation of undocumented workers in America. However, he veered from political concerns long enough to write and co-produce the film People of the Wind, for which, in 1976, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.
Gilles Bourdos is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his atmospheric cinema, which uses troubling themes in contrast with strong aesthetic imagery. He was one of the founders of the French production company Persona Films which produced most of his early work. Bourdos often collaborates with filmmaker Michel Spinosa, cinematographer Mark Lee Ping Bin and musician Alexandre Desplat.
The emerging film industry in Uganda is known as Ugawood or sometimes Kinauganda by the locals. The 2005 production Feelings Struggle directed by Ashraf Ssemwogerere is credited with being the first Ugawood film. Many have asserted that this steadily growing film industry is derived from Hollywood, in the same manner as Nollywood and Bollywood. In a story that ran in a local newspaper in Uganda about the naming of the industry, filmmakers Kuddzu Isaac, Matt Bish and Usama Mukwaya were quoted as saying that Ugawood would be the most appropriate name for the industry.
Ngozi Onwurah is a British-Nigerian film director, producer, model, and lecturer. She is best known as a filmmaker for her autobiographical film The Body Beautiful (1991) and her first feature film, Welcome II the Terrordome (1994). Her work is reflective of the unfiltered experiences of Black Diaspora in which she was raised.
Darko Marić is a retired Serbian football player who last played as a forward for FC Brașov. Poorguy.
Usama "Osam" Nyanzi Mukwaya is a Ugandan screenwriter, film director, producer, actor and former television host. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Ama Award and three Amvca Awards.
Halima Namakula is a Ugandan musician, actress, entrepreneur and humanitarian who in 2009 was nominated to represent Uganda in the Mrs. World beauty pageant.
In Just Hours is a Ugandan short drama film written and directed by Usama Mukwaya. Produced through the Mariam Ndagire Film and Performing Arts Centre under the Movie Furnace project, the movie won the best film in the competition's second season. It premiered in the Nile Diaspora International Film Festival and later screened at the Manya Human Rights Film Festival. It was also nominated in the 4th Pearl International Film Festival for best student film under the MNFPAC.
Bala Bala Sese is a Ugandan film directed by Lukyamuzi Bashir based upon a screenplay by Usama Mukwaya, starring Michael Kasaija, Natasha Sinayobye, Raymond Rushabiro, Ismael Ssesanga, Fiona Birungi, Ashraf Ssemwogerere and Ddungu Jabal. It's the director's, writer's and producers' debut feature film.
Dilman Dila is a Ugandan writer, film maker and a social activist. He is the author of two collection of short stories, A Killing in the Sun and Where Rivers Go to Die, and of two novellas, Cranes Crest at Sunset, and The Terminal Move. He was shortlisted for the 2013 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for "A Killing in the Sun", longlisted for the Short Story Day Africa prize, 2013, and nominated for the 2008 Million Writers Award for the short story "Homecoming". He was longlisted for the BBC International Radio Playwriting Competition with his first radio play, Toilets Are for Something Fishy. His film The Felistas Fable (2013) won four awards at the Uganda Film Festival 2014, for Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Feature Film, and Film of the Year. It won two nominations at the Africa Movie Academy Awards for Best First Feature by a Director, and Best Make-up Artist. It was also nominated for the African Magic Viewers Choice Awards for Best Make-up artist, 2013. His first short film, What Happened in Room 13, is one of the most watched African films on YouTube. In 2015, he was longlisted for the Inaugural Jalada Prize for Literature for his story "Onen and his Daughter".
The Felistas Fable is a 2013 Ugandan film written, directed and produced by Dilman Dila. The film stars Veronica Namanda, Mike Wawuyo, Kaddzu Isaac and Mathew Nabwiso.
Leah Kalanguka is a Ugandan actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Uganda 2014 and represented her country at the Miss World 2014 pageant.
Jayant Maru is a Kenyan filmmaker based in Uganda. He has directed films like, The Route, K3NT & KAT3, and Sipi. He has worked with Olympian Stephen Kiprotich, Miss Uganda 2014 Leah Kalanguka, and actor Patriq Nkakalukanyi.
Laura Kahunde is a Ugandan performing artist and Reality T.V Show Host. She Hosts Our Perfect Wedding Uganda, a reality show that follows Ugandan couples from the wedding preparations to the actual wedding day events. She also currently plays Jussy on Kyaddala, a pan-African story told through the lives of university friends exploring sexual reproductive health, rights and challenges, among other social issues and; Catherine Musoke on Chapters series that shows on pearl Magic Prime. She portrayed the character Angella Byekwaso on the famous NTV Second Chance She is known to have starred in Mariam Ndagire's films Hearts in Pieces alongside Abby Mukiibi Nkaaga, Dear mum and most recently my husbands wife Where We Belong, and Dear Mum with Mariam Ndagire herself. She also starred in the Usama Mukwaya's Hello that won her the best actress in the 2011 MNFPAC students awards. She recently appeared in a Henry Ssali film Bullion with her sister Juliana Kanyomozi She is confirmed to work with Usama Mukwaya again on his upcoming film Love Faces alongside Moses Kiboneka Jr. and Patriq Nkakalukanyi and a Douglas Dubois Sebamala film Black Glove.
Esteri Tebandeke is a Ugandan filmmaker, actress, dancer and visual artist. She is a graduate of the Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Art at Makerere University.
Kyaddala is a Ugandan drama television series by Reach a Hand Uganda. The first season was produced by Emmanuel Ikubese Films and Reach a Hand Uganda. Set in a present day high school life, Kyaddala a Luganda word for "It's Real", focuses on real life social issues that affect young people across Africa and their attempts to overcome those issues. The series features actors and actresses from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Nigeria. Kyaddala premiered on 27 September 2019 at Kingdom Kampala.
The Uganda Film Festival Awards, also known as UFF Awards, are presented annually to recognize excellence in the film Industry in Uganda. The awards started in 2013 under a Uganda Communications Commission initiative to recognize and develop the Ugandan film industry. Nominated films are screened at a five-day festival that also runs training, workshops, exhibitions and outreaches. The awarding night marks the helm of the film festival that runs for three days.
Hadijah Nakanjako Ssali is a Ugandan actress, film director and producer. She is best known for the Debut film The Passenger that won best indigenous film as the Uganda Film Festival Awards(UFF). The film also received two nominations at Amvca Awards.
