Wakaliga Uganda, also known as Ramon Film Productions, is a Kampala-based film studio founded in 2005 by Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey Nabwana (Nabwana IGG), affectionately dubbed “Uganda’s Tarantino.” Operating on ultra-low budgets—often under $200—Wakaliga creates action films that combine handmade props, untrained actors, and raw storytelling to craft a cinematic universe as inventive as it is self-aware. Cult classics like Who Killed Captain Alex? and Bad Black refract Hollywood’s hyper-violence through a distinctly Ugandan lens, offering playful yet incisive critiques of global power dynamics. More than a film studio, Wakaliga Uganda is a community hub, providing a space for local martial artists, actors, and technicians—many of them teenagers—to hone their craft. At the Renaissance Society—marking their first exhibition in the United States—Wakaliga Uganda will premiere If Uganda Was America, a speculative satire that flips geopolitical hierarchies, alongside a curated selection of their films. Presented within a site-specific installation designed by Studio 2050+, the exhibition captures Wakaliga’s project beyond their DIY ethos.

Curated by Myriam Ben Salah.

Major annual support for the Renaissance Society is provided by the Mellon Foundation. Ren programs are supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Annual support is provided by The Provost’s Discretionary Fund at the University of Chicago. 

The 2024–2025 Music Series is generously sponsored by a grant from the University of Chicago Women’s Board.

All Renaissance Society publications are made possible by The Mansueto Foundation Publications Program.

Film Screening

Action! Documentary Double Feature

Thu, Apr 3, 7pm

Logan Center for the Arts, Screening Room

915 60^th St.

This documentary double feature offers a rare look behind the scenes at the DIY studios of two enterprising filmmakers, one in Uganda and the other in Tunisia—each of them putting their own wild spin on 1980s-style action flicks. Once Upon a Time in Uganda!(2021) introduces us to writer-director Isaac Nabwana, the driving force behind Wakaliga Uganda, and tracks his unlikely partnership with Alan “Ssali” Hofmanis, an American producer and super-fan who moved to Kampala to join him. In VHS – Kahloucha (2006), documentarian Nejib Belkadhi trails amateur Tunisian filmmaker Moncef Kahloucha as he makes his latest feature, Tarzan of the Arabs, with the help of the people around him.

Discussion

Grassroots Filmmaking and African Cinema

Fri, Apr 18, 7pm

Swift Hall, 3^rd Floor

1025 E 58^th St.

On the occasion of Wakaliga Uganda's exhibition at the Renaissance Society, join us for an expansive discussion with novelist and scholar Akin Adesokan and other participants to be announced. In his multidisciplinary work, Adesokan has explored conceptual patterns in Nollywood and African cinema and the cultural consequences of globalization, among many other subjects. While reflecting on Wakaliga Uganda's movies and methods, this evening program considers the Kampala-based film collective’s work in relation to larger movements in African cinema and grassroots filmmaking.

Visit renaissancesociety.org for more information.