Nollywood Film Pirates Cautioned in Uganda

By Mike Ssegawa
Pirated Films
Pirated Films

For business people who have been thriving on pirating Nigerian movies, here is some bad news. Nigerian film makers last week were in town to lobby the Uganda Federation of Movie Industry (UFMI) to curtail the vice in the country.

Hussain Kagolo, the UFMI chairman said the Nigerians expressed disappointment that Uganda was not doing enough to protect their work. However, they resolved to set stringent measures during the August 15 meeting with UFMI in a bid to promote the film industry in both countries.

"They were concerned that they lose a lot of money to pirates, but we could not help because they were not registered with us. But now, we are working out a plan to jointly have our products promoted and protected," Kagolo said. He advised film dealers who want Nigerian movies to buy rights from the producers of their choice saying that they (dealers) would be protected.

"We want the industry to grow, that's why we are working with Nigerians because they have a large market here and we also want to penetrate their market," Kagolo added.

The federation that brings together stakeholders in the movie industry has been on the forefront of fighting piracy and now has instituted film awards slated for November 22, which were announced in a bid to promote the quality of local films. Kagolo, probably one of the first Kinauganda filmmakers has been behind films like Abakyala bagalaki, Nnabe mu b'oluganda , Enkwe za basajja Omusege and Nantabulirirwa.