Welcome to Wakaliwood - the Wakaliga village outside of Uganda’s capital Kampala. It is the birthplace of the over-the-top, no-budget action movies produced by maverick Ugandan filmmaker Isaac Nabwana. Isaac survived the dark times of the Idi Amin era and the civil war that followed through soccer, breakdancing, and the action films of his hero Chuck Norris. 10 years ago, Isaac was a brickmaker who woke up one morning and decided to realize his dream of making action movies. With no money and no training, and using homemade prop guns and costumes, Isaac has made 40+ films in that time - including Uganda’s first action film WHO KILLED CAPTAIN ALEX.
Fascinated by Isaac’s movie trailers on YouTube, film nerd Alan Hofmanis traveled from NYC to Uganda and showed up on Isaac’s doorstep one day. The two hit it off, and by the next day Alan was being chased through the dirt paths of the slums by armed gunmen on a motorbike – as the new villain in the quickly rewritten film that Isaac was working on at the time. Alan moved in with Isaac in the slum and has become Isaac’s producer, protégé, and a leading man in some of Isaac’s recent films. Alan has pursued a dream that now threatens to pull him into the abyss. He has run out of money, lives in a spare room of Isaac’s shanty home, and dreams of being able to take a shower again someday.
Hoping to capitalize on the international cult status of Isaac’s classic WHO KILLED CAPTAIN ALEX, Isaac and Alan embark on a slew of new productions: BAD BLACK, EATEN ALIVE IN UGANDA, CRAZY WORLD, and ENTWETWE - a film about a murderous gourd on a killing spree. Working with Isaac and Alan are a cast of characters that includes: Isaac’s wife Harriet who oversees the books and distribution of their films, Bisaso Dauda, resident weapons master, actor, and stuntman who makes prop guns out of scrap metal and car parts, Bukenya Charles the martial arts master and star who makes a living selling women’s dresses at the Kampala market, and a slew of others.
Our documentary chronicles a year in the life of Wakaliwood as Isaac and Alan deal with the pressure of high expectations spurred by a wave of international attention. When Uganda’s largest television network visits Wakaliwood and offers Isaac a deal to adapt WHO KILLED CAPTAIN ALEX into a television series, it seems to Isaac to be the fulfillment of his dreams. But the deal brings long simmering tensions to the surface, and one wonders: will success spoil Wakaliwood? The stakes are high for both Isaac and Alan who have put everything on the line. One way or another, things will never be the same in Wakaliwood once the dust settles.
*20 minute work sample available for private review! Please contact cathryne (at) salted-media.com
WAKALIWOOD NEWS:
WALL STREET JOURNAL http://on.wsj.com/1QkhIIk
CNN http://cnn.it/1GhFFc8
VICE http://www.vice.com/read/the-best-of-the-best-movies-0000601-v22n3
BBC http://bbc.in/1MOR6Lb
Learn More: http://www.onceuponatimeinuganda.com