By Vanessa Kyalimpa
Telling a story of an illustrious man like Janan Luwum is not something that is simple to do. However the Uganda Christian University (UCU) broadcast class of 2015 managed to re-enact the events that took place through a documentary drama which gives you an insight of what happened at that time in only 19 minutes.
The documentary follows the life and predicament of Ugandan arhcbishop Janan Luwum who was murdered during Idi Amin’s regime. Luwum as archbishop had to speak out against the regime’s atrocities, a factor which infuriated the regime leading up to his murder.
Not so many people have thought about reenacting events and stories of people who had a great impact on so many people that took place a long time ago. It is six years since the documentary’s dramatic rendering of the story surrounding the personality and murder of Uganda’s Archbishop, Janan Luwum in February 1977.
Rogers Akanyijuka, a video creator and production manager with the Vision group‘s Urban TV who was the director of the documentary drama. He explains that it was necessary to dramatize events that happened a long time ago because drama is a replay of what happens in society.
“Visuals are more powerful than text and I would like to remind you that our culture is not a reading culture that is why we found it necessary to give people a dose of what Janan Luwum stood for,” said Rogers.
Creating this documentary drama came along with a number of challenges that mostly had to do with expenses, limited time to edit after shooting and getting the work done in time. Rogers said that the availability of production funds is always a dilemma in production and it was no exception for them.
“Any extension in the course of the production is a cost. If you plan to finish in one day and then you don’t, that’s more money that wasn’t budgeted for,” said Rogers.
At one point the class faced a challenge where they drove to Makerere, Kikoni and were not allowed to film.
Rogers also said that the university provided them with some funds \with which they were able to book places where they were to shoot from and also pay a band they hired to reenact nightlife during Idi Amin’s era and physical transport. These however were not sufficient.
Despite all the challenges they faced, Rogers and the class gained a lot from this experience. Besides acquiring skills, they discovered their potential in different areas such as producing, directing and so many more. Because of this experience all have become really successful at their work.
