HOPE FOR UGANDAN ACTORS WITH UGANDA-NIGERIA MOVIE

In India they call it Bollywood, in Nigeria they have their own Nollywood and movies from there have taken over television screens and local cinemas in Uganda by storm. And now Nollywood has extended to Uganda, thanks to a movie to be premiered this week, which was a cooperation between Ugandan actors and seasoned Nigerian actors.
Directed by Nigeria's Emmanuel Onuoha and Dare Folder, Ugandans are now all set for their own Ugawood. Finally a movie made in Uganda, with Ugandan actors will be on Ugandan people's screens. 'Roses in the Rain' will premier first in Kampala at Didi's World on April 30 and then at the country's National Theater. And thereafter showcase Ugandan talent in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.
Roses in the Rain's storyline is one, which many people in Africa can relate to. Borrowing from the life in Nigeria and Uganda, it tells a story of a family, once the envy of the community they live in, that gets destroyed by HIV/AIDS. The movie is about stigma,royalty, greed and girl child challenges.
This is the second movie to be shot on location in Uganda in less than a year. Last year directors, actors and script writers from Hollywood descended upon Uganda for the shooting of the movie the 'Last King of Scotland' which tells the life of former Ugandan President Idi Amin.

However unlike the 'Last King of Scotland', which did not as much raise actors and actresses hopes because they were mostly only used in the background, Onuoha and Folder's Roses in the Rain is doing just that for Ugandans looking to break into the movie world in Africa and perhaps beyond.
Local radio celebrity Karitas Karisimbi is one of them. Although not an actress professionally, this has not stopped Karitas for dreaming of making it on the big time screen.
While this may be her first role in a movie, she believes the movie is a great way for her to get to bigger things in the movie world in Africa. At the end of the shooting, she may not have been paid yet, but that was the least of her worries. 'It is not really about the money, but about the prospects the whole movie will bring and my chances of being spotted for bigger and better things in the future,' says Karitas.
A local celebrity in her own right in Uganda, Karitas presents the morning show on Capital FM, one of the country's popular FM stations, and also doubles as a presenter on East Africa Television musical channel which screens in all three East African Countries.
Like Karitas, all other Ugandan actors and actresses look at the movie as a way of furthering their careers off the local theater scene and onto bigger screens. While most have had careers acting, it has not been beyond the local theaters in the country. 'Roses in the Rain' has raised the hopes of Ugandan actors and actresses who believe that they too can make it just like the Nigerian have, but all that was missing was the breakthrough.