#21 – Bad Black

Welcome to Wakaliwood: home to "da best of da best movies!" and the vanguards of action-packed off-the-grid DIY commando cinema. Under the guidance of writer/director/producer Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey (IGG) Nabwana, this crack crew of self-taught filmmakers and kung fu aficionados have made dozens of exuberant and exhilarating action films in the ghetto outside Kampala, Uganda for budgets of $200 US a movie. Despite props, computers and gear all being built from scrap parts (including a full-size Huey helicopter!) and the ludicrously cheap but infectiously endearing CG explosions/muzzle-flashes, Wakaliwood cinema’s reckless abandon manages to inspire more heart, grit and soul than a thousand Hollywood blockbusters.

In their their latest crime epic, BAD BLACK, a mild-mannered doctor, portrayed by real-life Wakaliwood producer Alan Hofmanis, is trained in the art of ass-kicking commando vengeance by a no-nonsense ghetto kid named Wesley Snipes (!) in an effort to steal back a family heirloom from Uganda's toughest gang. A multitude of subplots ensue at a breakneck pace as Nabwana hurls his charismatic cast through bombastic firefights, dizzying motorcycle chases, and an absolutely madcap prison riot – all photographed with a thrilling gonzo panache and seeped in gleefully silly, self-deprecating humour. Per the oral tradition of Ugandan storytelling, all the aforementioned mayhem is miraculously made coherent by the acerbic wit of the film’s narrator / video-joker (think a Ugandan Tom Servo), whom at one point aptly distills this delirious hour and change to a single sentiment: “It is a love story... LOVE OF ACTION!”