Bobi Wine: The People’s President (2023)
Director: Christopher Sharp, Moses Bwayo Run Time: 114 min. Rating: PG-13 Release Year: 2023
Starring: Barbie Kyagulanyi, Bobi Wine
Country: Uganda, United Kingdom
Language: English, Luganda with English subtitles
About the film:
World Premiere, 2022 Venice Film Festival
Nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 96th Academy Awards
This gripping documentary charts the inspiring activism of Bobi Wine, the pop star-turned-politician seeking to end Uganda’s brutal dictatorship. Rising from the ghetto slums of Kampala to be one of the country’s most beloved superstars, Bobi begins to use his music to call out corruption, then becomes an Independent Member of Parliament to defend the rights of his people.
“a portrait of unfathomable political courage… the strength of a people united—not just by a song, but by a deep belief in a just future”
—Nick Allen, The Playlist
The country’s institutions are controlled by President Museveni, an autocratic tyrant who has held power since 1986. Bobi and his wife Barbie choose to risk their careers, their family, and their lives to challenge him and bring democracy to their country. But the state is determined to silence not only them, but anyone who supports their cause.
Directed by Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo and produced by two-time Academy Award winner John Battsek, Bobi Wine: The People’s President (2023) premiered to a 10-minute standing ovation at the 2022 Venice Film Festival and received high acclaim from audiences and critics at Telluride, BFI London, IDFA, The Hamptons, True/False, CPH: DOX, Millennium, Boston, and more.
About the filmmakers:
Christopher Sharp is a director and producer who was born in Uganda and has a deep appreciation for the country’s people, culture and extraordinary natural beauty. He spent his early working life as a film editor in London and more recently has revisited the profession as director of Bobi Wine: The People’s President (2023). He met Bobi and Barbie in 2017 and was inspired by their courage. Christopher believed in their extraordinary capacity to enact change, and instantly knew that their enormous sacrifice and resilience needed to be documented. He founded the Southern Films to produce the documentary, and will continue to develop projects that tell stories that expose injustice and celebrate those who stand in the face of adversity.
Moses Bwayo is a filmmaker from Uganda who earned a reputation as a courageous verité cinematographer and local fixer. After falling in love with the camerawork and storytelling of Hollywood martial arts films, he began a career in cinema. He graduated with honors with his Bachelor of Arts in journalism and mass communication and went on to earn a postgraduate diploma at Kampala Film School, Uganda’s top film and television conservatory. He was mentored by Academy Award-nominated director Mira Nair at her workshop for aspiring filmmakers and then for two years working on Queen of Katwe (2016). In 2016, he started his own production company in Kampala, Jajja Productions, working on various commercial, documentary, and feature films, including shooting for ABC, BBC, and VICE News. He is currently seeking political asylum in the United States after risking his life to film Bobi Wine: The People’s President (2023).
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