By Hussein Kiganda
The 18th Africa Movie Academy Awards(AMAAs) kicked off on October 26, 2022, in Lagos, Nigeria and several Ugandans are representing the country, at Africa’s biggest film awards.
Promoting African stories and awarding African creatives, the awards night will be held on October 30, 2022.
Well, Ugandan films got several nominations: “Tinka’s Story” by Hassan Mageye received two, “The Wave” by Kevin Johns Nabukenya received two, “No Way Out” an animation by Ashraf Mulima got one and Morris Mugisha’s “Tembele” received ten. Below are the Ugandans holding our flag at the AMAAs.
Morris Herbert Mugisha
His movie “Tembele” is not only holding our flag in Africa but also in the world. It was selected to represent Uganda at the 95th Oscars. Tembele was nominated 10 times at the AMAAs.
Well, Mugisha is a Ugandan actor, director, cinematographer, model, and reality television star commonly known for representing Uganda in the third season of Big Brother Africa in 2008. His debut directorial feature film “Stain” received twelve nominations at the Uganda Film Festival Awards in 2021, and won five. “Stain” also won an award at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2021.
He graduated from Makerere University with a degree in Arts (Literature communication and film), a diploma in Performing Arts (Music, Dance, and Drama) as well as a Diploma in Radio and TV production.
Kevin Johns Nabukenya
Nabukenya’s movie “The Wave” received two nominations; Best Achievement In Sound and Best Actress In A Leading Role. She is currently in Lagos, to represent the country at the AMAAs.
Nabukenya is an award-winning Ugandan filmmaker and lawyer by profession. She specializes in directing and screenwriting. She is the C.E.O of Kjohns Films Uganda LTD, a fully registered film production company based in Kampala, Uganda.
She has directed and produced 3 feature films, Men In Suits (2021), Lala (2022) & The Wave (2022). These have scooped various nominations and awards from major film festivals around the globe such as The Africa Movie Academy Awards 2022 (AMAA), The Uganda Film Festival (UFF)2022, and The New Vision Film Awards among others.
She also has 2 short films, Inner Tears and Cry Out, and has also been the director of projects like My Hood (2021), X-Employee (2020), and several more. She studied Screenwriting & Film Directing at CineArts Academy and Marketing and Distribution at The Arts and Business Centre.
Patriq Nkakalukanyi
Simply called “Nkaka”, an abbreviation from his name “Nkakalukanyi”, he is one of Uganda’s leading actors of this era. His role in the movie “Tembele” won him the “Best Actor In Feature Film” award at the Uganda Film Festival 2022, an accolade he won in 2019.
Patriq Nkakalukanyi born Musisi Patrick was born in 1991 to Micheal Ssebina and Christine Nabawanuka of Mawokota, Uganda.
Nkaka’s first professional acting came in 2009 when he featured in an NTV Uganda production “Tricksters” and in 2011 sprung onto the theatre scene with “Silent Voices”, a play about the war in Northern Ugandan and the ensuing amnesty program to resettle the victims and their oppressors.
Under his belt, he has gathered several awards and movie credits which include; The counselor (2010), Kent & Kate (2012), Love Faces (2017), Lailah (2018) with which he won Best Actor at Uganda Film Festival [UFF] 2019, KaFaCoh (2019) and now Tembele (2021).
He is currently an aspiring director for both film and stage, and also an acting coach, to pass on his knowledge to others as a tool for empowerment and to give back to the community.
Sharon Nafuna.
For her role in “The Wave”, Sharon Nafuna is competing against Euodia Samson in “Angeliena”, Bless Fortune in “Road to My Fathers Compound”, Osas Ighodaro in “Man of God”, Ikhlas Gafur Vora in “Tug of War”, Vanessa Vanderpuye in “A song from the dark”, Eniola Akinbo in “Swallow”, and fellow Ugandan Ronah Ninsiima in “Tembele”.
Nafuna is a Ugandan actress, teacher, and dancer. She holds a bachelor’s Degree in arts with Education (Literature/English).
She has been featured in the movie “Lala” by Kevin Johns Nabukenya as a teacher and her role in “The Wave” has won her a nomination at the AMAAs.
Nafuna is interested in acting and singing, costume design, and kadodi dancing. With a Yoruba accent, she captures audiences with facial expressions and actions.
Marvin Rain Ssentongo
Marvin Rain Ssentongo was born and raised in Kampala- the capital of Uganda. He won the Best Set Designer Award at the Uganda Film Festival(UFF)2021.
Having joined Film Club Uganda in 2017, he earned his acting debut in the movie “Only Bridge” and later played several roles in Tecora, Preacher’s daughter, Potter’s Hand, and The wave. He decided to work on sound and he was nominated in the UFF 2022 and AMAAs 2022 for achievement in sound design. As an editor and sound designer, he has worked on movies such as “Damaja”, “Lala”, and several more.
After attending online classes for movie directing, Ssentongo became the assistant director of “12 Hours” and “My Wings”. Marvin is currently the director of Rain Films; Infinity studios which he willingly shares to help new actors succeed. He is looking forward to working with the best directors on bigger projects.
Agnes Kebirungi Knight
Simply called “Aggie”, Kebirungi was nominated in the category “Best Young And Promising Actor/Actress”, for her role in the movie ” Tinka’s Story” by Hassan Mageye.
“Aggie” as many call her, is a Ugandan actress, businesswoman, and TV host. She started acting in 2007 and 2009, she was nominated in the “Best Supporting” category in the AMAAs for her role in the movie “Battle of The Souls” directed by Matt Bish.
Since then, she has been featured in movies such as; Bed of Thorns, 27 Guns, The Last Breath, and the TV series “Mistakes Gals Do”.
In 2019, she started producing and hosting a film show called ” Movie Manual” where she talks about the film industry in Uganda.
Alex Tusingwire
Tuswigire worked on Tinkas’ story and he was nominated for Achievement in Visual Effects at the AMAAs 2022.
He is a visual effects expert who also worked on Bedroom Chains, the Baguma TV series, and many more.” Bedroom chains” won an award at the UFF 2022, Berlin Independent Film Festival and several more.
Ashraf Mulima
Mulima’s animation ” No Way Out” was nominated in the AMAAs 2022.
He is an actor, director, producer, and animator. His other movie, A Thousand Fate, won Best Animation at both the Uganda Film Festival 2021 and scooped a nomination at the Africa Movie Academy Awards 2021.
He is also known for other animations; Double Deal and Split up. With these animations, he has represented the country at the Craft International Film Festival 2021, Indie Film Festival 2021, African Women Mobile Film Festival 2021, Sotambe International Film Festival 2021, Lift Off Global Film Festival 2021, and has scooped four awards from the festivals.
As an actor, Mulima featured in My Only Son, Freedom and the TV series, Mistakes Galz Do as Marvin.
Ronah Ninsiima
She was nominated in the category “Best Actress In A Leading Role” at the AMAAs 2022.
She is an award-winning actress and was born in 1994 to Emmanuel Kabagambe and Betty Ahereza. She is a Uganda passionate actress, writer and director.
Ninsiima received a diploma in procurement and logistics management at YMCA Comprehensive Institute and a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting at Makerere University Business School(MUBS).
Despite her professional interests in acting she is currently employed as an accountant at MOIDEAS LTD.
At the age of 23, Ronah played a major role as Tarsha in a Ugandan TV series “Mistakes Gals Do”. In 2017, she played a cameo role in the award winning movie “The Torture” as a nurse and in 2018, she played Lead in “94 Terror” as Keza which brought her numerous nominations and wins for instance best discovery actress in the awards at the Golden Movie Awards in Ghana, Best International Actress from the Rwanda International Movie Awards and from different edges of the globe.
She grabbed herself a supporting role in the movie “Lailah” in which she was able to scoop a nomination for the category of “Best supporting actress” at the Uganda Film Festival.
