My name is Mwaka Samuel Baptist. I’m from Palabek, in Lamwo district. I am a veterinary officer at sub-county level. I however love film and I am the director of Northern Uganda Film Network, which I founded to preserve our culture through film. Acholi people were subjected to living in IDP camps during the twenty years of civil war, and it destroyed many aspects of our culture, especially storytelling. In future, we will have only people born in the camps, who never experienced the stories that shaped our people. This makes me sad. I know it is not practical to revive it as it was practiced in the old days, like sitting around a campfire and telling stories, but we are in the world of dotcom, and we can use new technology. As Northern Uganda Film Network, we have produced one film, based on the dying culture of preserving food in the granary. Because of modern life and factors like thieves, people now prefer keeping food in sacks inside the houses, rather than in the granary, and this breaks down social values. In the past, it was taboo for a man to enter the granary, but today, men sell food to buy alcohol, and their family end up starving. The film was not very good, was worse than a wedding video. It was a very challenging process to make it as I did not have anyone to guide me.
I fell in love with filmmaking when I was still a child. I watched a music video of the Yondo Sisters dancing, this was in 1996, and I asked the people around me how they made this video possible. I did not get any answers as no one around me knew how to produce a video. Later, I saw films made in Hollywood in video halls, and they were very violent with a lot of people dying. I wondered if this was a good thing. We were going through a war in Northern Uganda, and I was not amused that people were killing each other so easily in these films.
I got even more interested in filmmaking because I wanted to tell stories that were relevant to our people, but I could not find anyone to teach me. When I went to Kampala to study, I joined a group called Uganda Film Network. They welcomed me and seemed to be very supportive, but I did not understand anything they were saying because they spoke in Luganda.
When I returned to Gulu, I started to teach myself using YouTube videos. Then I heard of this training by Dilstories and I came, and after just one day of learning I realized that I had got everything wrong. That I really did not know what I was doing.
Now that I’ve gained these practical skills, it has opened my mind on how to produce high quality films. I can also try and make money from the whole process. But my mind is set on Acholi culture. I want to use the skills I’ve learned to document the good side of our culture so that it can impact society positively. Like the granary story I tried to tell before. Because men no longer respect the symbolism of the granary, they can sell food to go and drink rather than let it feed their family. Now if I make a good story around this issue, I know it will create a positive change. The one I made before did not have an impact because it was poorly made, but with what I’ve learned, I’m sure I’ll make a better film. I’m still learning. Though I’ve grasped the basics, I need experience to become better at film production, and it will take time, but I know I’ll eventually use film to showcase the cultures of my people.
Written by Mwaka Samuel Baptist
Mwaka was a participant in the 2019 mobile film training in Gulu.