It’s funny how I got here, my journey in film has been what one would say a battled way out. It was in 2024, after completing my form six and jumping out with all hopes of heading to college, but life took a left turn on me. Everything just went south and in a blink of an eye the year 2024 was gone, no campus and no hope of getting there.
In 2025, I met a friend who bragged a lot about script writing, sound mixing and the so-called different departments of film, trust me this got to my nerves and challenged me to get in and find out the rocket science this guy was bragging about which almost seemed impossible to do.
He introduced me to his mentor Raymond, a filmmaker who told me about the opportunity Sisi Film Collective was offering to film lovers and enthusiasts in Gulu (Northern Uganda). I sat back contemplated and decided to get in, but I had one issue “the first odd,” having done Sciences in high school (PEM, Physics, Economics and Mathematics) all that was expected of me was to major in an engineering field. I had to convince my guardian that this field was good and lucrative too, trust me I’m a good debater, but this one failed, she just let me do it for just, and the deal was when campus kicks in, I’m to drop film and start University.
First forward to the first two weeks of the training, it was hell, damn! We were in the middle of a brick laying project at home, “second odd” and it was just me and my brother. I had to wake up early, fetch water for moulding the bricks and after head for the training. For the record, I don’t think there was a day I arrived early for the whole two weeks. I Just put it in mind that I would just give it what I could since for me, this was more like a detour.
Then I got hooked up in the script writing class. I knew from day one I would consider writing though I jumped into film mostly because of sound. I really wanted to learn sound design and editing. First forward before I knew it phase one was done. I still remember the first project we did, Dead Cat. With a very busy daily routine and home 6km away from the training ground “Third odd,” yeah, I had to trek like for 3 or 4 days a week to come in for the assignments (as a matter of fact I was a great trekker.) The mentors were good and understanding.
In one of my projects “Yen”, one of the actors who were called in to act in our exercises liked my directing skills. He said there was a gig he was up to, if I could act, I could go and try the audition. Given my background in stage performance in various aspects of debate, poetry, mimes and drama in my high school years, I was more than confident. Reaching there, I did the auditions. I took on the role of a director. Trust me, I didn’t like the way the lady who was to direct me was doing it, so I dropped in as AD (assistant Director). Picking up, I got engaged in the preproduction with the child actor and when production came, I was directing. It was a nice feeling, first pay, first acting and directing role, first film gig, wonderful experience.
Then came in a script I wrote, The Inner Room. It’s a short film, but it stressed the hell out of me. The lighting was hellish, but I managed to achieve it. Jumping off from that, I finally got a call from Sisi Film Lab Kampala (the promised land) that I was chosen to go for writer’s room for the Tv series Tatu Taps on Love, damn! I was happier than Santa clause. Coming to Kampala had me prep myself, just in case, not to be out of place.
The writers room left me changed and challenged; I can never write the old way again. Being in a room full of writers has something it does to you. Hearing different minds offering different perspectives is something so beautiful. Imagine how far a story can be developed in that room.
Heading back to Gulu, I had to be the assistant director for a short film Mama. Just when I was preparing for advanced class writing, I was called back as one of the directors for the internship project we were writing, Tatu taps on Love. So, there I was, against all odds, slowly progressing in the film world with high hopes of making it big in one of the developing entertainment sector in the country. My internship for the Tv series surely deserves another blog, so just give me a little time. There is more juice coming.
