Being a village Mukiga woman is a whole lot to work with! Meet me, Angel Gumisiriza, a village champion from Kabale, now in Kampala City. How did I get here? Film led me to here! My passion for filmmaking began way back with my first crush movie: Suicide Mission (1998) a Nigerian film where a woman uses juju (black magic) to put her husband in the bottle. This sparked off my acting desire. I now wanted to act!
By then I was under the care of my grandparents, my grandma being the most stubborn woman ever. We fought every day over the remote for she wanted to watch news – boring, yet I preferred other fascinating shows. We had enough fights that I ended up saying goodbye to her. My aunt took me away, she couldn’t stand the battle for remote control, petty right?
Now happily living in town with an aunt who has a big TV screen – satisfying enough! Surprisingly her desire for film surpassed mine, some days we debated whether to pay DSTV for Africa Magic or buy food. Do I need to tell you what we ended up doing? At one point I fainted when the screen was turned off abruptly during my favorite show – yeah, that’s how much I loved films! As time whirled, I fell deeper in love with film, it became an addiction.
I became a teacher as life sometimes takes unexpected turns, but I almost lost this job because of trying to nurture my fetish, watching movies with Top Class infants. Thinking about it right now – I think I was possessed.
Usually, I don’t go around reading advertisement posters on poles on the roadsides, but for some reasons unknown I spotted this poster on a tree. I guess it was idleness that brought my luck. It was a film related advert about the mobile film school. I took it’s picture and with a million smiles, I returned home. I had missed the previous training since I was still in school but for this, nothing could stop me! I made a call to a friend who was conversant about this training and with detailed information, I was excited to start this film journey. Among all other students I think I was the happiest because, why not? I was literally living my dream.
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A few weeks later after the training, we were told to apply for internship since there was a film shooting in Kampala. It didn’t take me long to apply. But I had never been in Kampala before!Anyway, that did not stop me from chasing my dream. Long story short, I went through and for the first time I climbed the bus to Kampala ready to stand on a film set and attend a real film shoot.
In Kabale most of my time was spent at school or in church. I traveled around Western Uganda as a teacher representing my school during workshops. So, I had no idea about the outside world. When packing my clothes, I packed my up-to the toe wardrobe. My sister who studied from Kampala fore warned me about a would-be embarrassment because of my clothes. Sorry to my naive self, I did not listen!
Finally in Kampala, I saw things I had never seen, buildings so tall, streets so beautiful and so crowded. I do not recall blinking. Next day comes with us going costume shopping for the shoot. Here I dress up in my Oh so beautiful long skirt. I don’t want to lie; I was the only bean in a collection of peas. So out of place! A lady among the crew members walked to me, her words still echo in my head, “Angel how will you be on a boda in town dressed in a long skirt?” She suggested I wear a trouser – my dear sister had warned me!
As uncomfortable as I was, my confidence lost, I marched to town overwhelmed. We used a taxi and finally the crowded streets welcomed us. We walked from shop to arcades, damn; choosing costumes became even more harder, I was tired. The places looked similar and overly congested, anyway, it was an adventure. Finally, the costume hunt was done.
For matters of social distance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the lockdown was lifted, the one person per boda rule was still in place, so on returning to the studio this lady, and I was still unaware of her name, decides we use Bodas. She asks to keep my phone for safety measures for this was Kampala city!
We get different Bodas and trust me, I did not notice that my colleague’s boda was nowhere to be seen. And then this boda man decides to ask me where I was going, after hours of riding – can you imagine! Where we were, I don’t know, which route to take, I couldn’t tell. All I could recall were the places my colleague went showing me during the ride to town, like the Namugongo Martyrs Shrine which I heard about at home as most of my village mates walked from Kabale to Kampala for the pilgrim. I was glad she did, for it was the only place that my mind could think about and hence the only reply I gave to this boda man.
He too did not know where the Namugongo Shrine was. We rode for some distance and then asked some other boda guy where the Shrine was. On discovery, we were in a very wrong direction, completely lost. It was getting dark yet without any idea about where I was going, no phone no cash. I trembled, almost crying. I started to pray. This boda guy decides to hand me to another boda man. They agree on the payments in Luganda, a language I did not understand. With this other boda, we ride back to Namugongo.
On the way back, my long-lost colleague accidentally saw me passing with my new boda man. She had stopped to search for me. On seeing her, I started to breath again, I felt like giving her a hug for saving me. She told me how she was worried sick; she was planning to call our boss to find a way of looking for me. That’s how I was saved from becoming a missing person.
Finally, the next day, I was on a real film set and my boss Dilman Dila tells me I will be doing props – another trouble! I didn’t know what a prop was. So, I asked him, “What is that?” He tells me to go and google. Boom!
Every word that came out his mouth was new, but with a little help here and there I started catching up. And here I am now, finally good! I met challenges on the way, but I met friends who become my mentors and took me through the river learning journey. Here I am a film maker in Kampala straight from Kabale. Though not yet where I want to be considering there is a lot to learn, but at least I have about 70% knowledge on film making and this is all thanks to the Sisi Film Collective.