uganda

It’s not easy to quickly summarise award-winning Ugandan Dilman Dila’s work: he’s made Nepalese documentaries like The Sound of One Leg Dancing, published a short story collection A Killing in the Sun and acclaimed novels, made hit YouTube shorts like What Happened in Room 13, shot an African Academy Award-nominated feature the Felista’s Fable, and thru his production company Dil Stories, produced multiple TV series for DStv (pan-African Satellite TV channel). He blogs and advocates extensively, and has made the Fediverse his home at @dilmandila & on PeerTube and, like Netribution@25, turned his WordPres blogs into a subscribeble social media node. His next film is the Night Dancer – about a deadly dance-off, with crowdfunding invited here – on his own site because Kickstarter and IndieGogo disallow projects from much of Africa (unlike Patreon), which he discusses here.

How I quit my job to become a full-time artist

“It started with Maisha Film Lab. When I was selected in 2006, I got the green light I had been searching for all my life. Before that, I stumbled about blindly, not knowing if my writing was any good, not knowing if I had that something that makes you a good artist. I did not have confidence to even think of becoming a full-time artist, so I snuggled comfortably in my salaried job. In Maisha I met people like Steve Cohen (RIP), who thought I had something. He took me under his wings taught me screenwriting, by helping develop The Felistas Fable, over a four year period. That was my film school. Then there was Musarait, the then Program Coordinator of Maisha, who pulled me aside one day and asked, ‘Have you ever thought about directing?’” Continued…

The inequality facing African filmmakers seeking film funding

I did not want to rant, but as I researched crowdfunding options for my next feature film, Big Tree, it pissed me off to discover that all major platforms, including kickstarter, backerkit, and indiegogo, allow creators only from certain countries to set up campaigns. Yet, anyone anywhere can give them money? Funny.” Continued…

Why my film crew is full of women

“There’s something you are doing right,’ a male Ugandan film director told me, as we discussed the crew of this TV series I created, Mama and Me. ‘Do you follow some kind of feminist agenda? Why is your crew so full of women?’ I’d just told him that I was the only male in the writer’s room, and that most heads of department were female. ‘It wasn’t a conscious decision,’ I replied. ‘It somehow just happened.’ And he said, ‘Well, if you can put together a film crew that is sixty percent female, then you are surely doing something right.’ I got similar remarks about Her Broken Shadow, with some critics saying it as feminist, and lauding me for having an all-female cast.” Continued…

Fediverse Reactions

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