Ugandan filmmakers Nisha Kalema and Ntale Guma Mbaho Mwine emerged as prominent winners at the recently concluded 15th edition of the Silicon Valley African Film Festival, which took place earlier this week in California, USA.
Nisha Kalema received the award for Best Narrative Feature for her film “Makula,” triumphing over competitors such as Joel Ayuk’s “Choke Hold” from Cameroon, Yao Ramesar’s “Fortune For All” from Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria’s Uzodinma Okpechi’s “Kamsi,” Tanzania’s Clerick Morgen’s “The Midnight Bride,” Jesse Kuba’s “The Moon is in Aquarius” from the United States, Jade Bryan’s “What Somalia Wants,” and Nigeria’s “This is Lagos” by Kenneth Gyang.
Meanwhile, Ntale Guma’s “Memories of Love” secured the Best Documentary Feature award, outshining films like “Brief Tender Light,” “Heroic Bodies,” “Limo on the Run,” “Othelo O Grande,” “Pirinha,” “The New Face of Salone,” “Ominobu,” “Three Ordinary Women,” and “Zar” from Egypt.
Uganda has consistently made its mark at the festival over the years, with Nisha Kalema’s “Veronica’s Wish” winning the Best Feature Film award in 2019, and Kizito Samuel Saviour’s “Your Turn” screened the previous year. Other recognized Ugandan films include “Superstition” by Aaron Zziwa, “Men in Suits” by Kevin Johns Nabukenya, “Esteem,” and “Catch Out” by Kizito Samuel Saviour, as well as “Crystal” by Amanya Leonard, among others.
The Silicon Valley African Film Festival aims to foster understanding and appreciation of Africa and its people through film, celebrating the continent’s rich diversity under the theme “Africa through the African lens.”
