Isaac Nabwana, standing at center, with his crew in “Once Upon a Time in Uganda.” Credit: Matt Porwoll/Yellow Veil Pictures/Drafthouse Films
Isaac Nabwana, standing at center, with his crew in “Once Upon a Time in Uganda.” Credit: Matt Porwoll/Yellow Veil Pictures/Drafthouse Films
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 major 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 Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli and studio 2050+, the exhibition captures Wakaliga’s DIY ethos and grassroots ingenuity.
Curated by Myriam Ben Salah.
