We are currently fixing dates for film screenings, talks and other events. Get in touch if you are interested in our project as we are keen to discuss what we have been up to in Uganda and the future of this project.
What happened? working with a number of different people in Kasese district, we helped stage a bicycle race with the "Boda Boda" riders. Over eighty riders entered the 40 kilometer race to the center of the earth, from Kasese to the equator and back, with thousands of people lining the road to cheer the riders on in the dust and the heat.The top three riders all won a Hero bicycle each and a cycling jersey, the rest to the top ten recieved other prizes including wind up radios, the top 50 riders recieved a cycling cap donated by LCEF and all riders received a t shirt to race in.
The Bicycle powered cinema worked well but it had to be run African style not Wuzungu style. (the white man is know as the Wuzungu which translates as headless chicken) In Uganda, some things worked well but others needed to be adapted and the whole thing was dependent on people getting involved to make it happen, from boda boda lending the bikes and leg power to Fundi's lending their mechanical expertise to kids enthusiasm making sure there was a brick kicked under the generator so it had a good contact with the wheel. We traveled around different villages and towns showing films from Charlie Chaplin to the moon landing to folk tales that we filmed performed by villagers of the places where we were staying. An extra element to the sceenings were the translations that went on from English into the local dialect (usually Luconjo), this narration was up to the interpreter and changed each screening into a live performance.
There were all kinds of responses to what we were doing that changed from place to place. Villagers skeptical it could even work then ecstatic when it did to savvy street kids in towns nicking your spanners when you are not looking. Some films went down so well they had to be repeated whilst some had to be cut short because they were too upsetting. The highlight of the cinema was the screening of the Boda Boda race. A few hundred Boda Boda with their bikes and other locals came to see the screening powered by the same bikes (and legs; thanks Sanex, Anos and Kule and others) that raced the week before. First we showed the Boda Boda race in Kasese followed by the race of their London counterparts; couriers racing in the Africat race that happened in June. Both went down well with translation and narration over the films by Joseph the traffic warden.
