KAMPALA, Uganda – To most people, watching movies is one of the main ways the sting of boredom can be relinquinched.This explains the flooding of Hollywood, Nollywood, and Bollywood movies into the country.
Most of these movies have lost classiness simply because they are not educative anymore and thus don’t live to face the test of time, when a lot of attention was put on the aesthetics, quality, and content of films. For some reason such movies have lately evaporated and yet they poses a lot of distinctiveness.
Today the love for long and continuous films such as series, soaps have greatly been embraced by many Ugandans leaving no room for aesthetic and classical films.The urge to bring the classics back to track and unbeatable love for films is what coarsed Tabitha Muhanganzima and her colleague Catherine Kworoba to start up Bohemian pictures. They expect to bring the classics such as “Sarafina” one of the South African legendary films, sound of music, and all kinds of record breaking, influential, iconic and enduring films.
Five months ago, they decided to start up Bohemian pictures because of the need to retrieve the now fading classic movies that have been replaced by blockbuster films. Therefore, in commemoration of the classic, vintage and educative films, Bohemian pictures launched at the National theatre to mark the rebirth of classic movies in Uganda on 19th November 2013. They will be shown by the Bohemian pictures group to all lovers of classic movies.
According to Tabitha Muhanganzima, the primal work of art is its ability to turn out popular and iconic so that all kinds of generations can appreciate it at the different stages.
Tabitha said: “Since these movies help viewers to understand the tenor of time we were compelled to start up something that would explain the tenor of time and events. We have created the classic movie debut so as to celebrate the “great movies” as well as to introduce (or reintroduce) films which I think have been forgotten, or even neglected, in today’s myopic film industry.”
The best of films as suggested by her are ones that should give one a deep feeling of satisfaction, a good cry, a warm heart, a laugh, or a gut-wrenching sorrow – or even help you to learn something new.
She also noted that with screening of these movies, olden movies of substance will gain rejuvenation and Bohemian movies according to her will aim at educating and creating awareness among the people by screening human rights stories besides comedy, romantic (but not barred films ) alongside all other genres.
She said: “During the celebration of the world Aids Day, we at Bohemian pictures intend to screen Aids awareness movies. We believe such movies will not only create awareness but also change people’s perception towards the disease and those who poses it.” The proceedings from the show will be directed towards The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) and OSPHIS Uganda in a bid to help the HIV/AIDS infected people.
The other aim is to work in close relations with schools so as to educate them through their movies on the do’s and don’ts through educational and reality movies.
Kworoba Catherine also proprietor of Bohemian pictures called upon Ugandan film industry to scale up its production and feature classic movies. According to her the move will provide an outstanding solution for the loved blockbuster but non educational films. She said: “We appreciate the Ugandan film industry for its efforts but also urge them to scale up in their movie production and move from producing for immediate consumption but also for lifetime consumption.”
Some of the characteristics of a classic film according to her is that it should be re-watchable, memorable and recognizable. She said: “There are countless reasons why people love watching the same films over and over, but I think the more a film is watched, the more belovable it will become and will most likely be passed down from parents to children.”
She also said Bohemian pictures will be able to screen movies for audiences of different ages at the Metropole Hotel with tickets selling at shs10,000($3.8) ordinary and shs20,000($7.6) V.I.P. There will an option of paying shs50,000 ($19.2) for a 6months subscription. It is unfortunate that, with the advent of television and the collapse of the studio system (and the creation of the summer blockbuster), the focus of Hollywood’s bottom-line executives has been on such a narrow segment of the movie-going population.
For decades, this attempt to appeal primarily to the younger, dating audience in order to score a huge opening weekend box office has caused the industry to produce largely forgettable films.
The emphasis on new, quality stories has been lost in the pursuit of stunning computer generated special effects, celebrity “vehicles”, or ripping off classic movies with inferior (and oftentimes) title-only.
