Kampala, Uganda: Outdoor Movies Shown at the Commonwealth People's Forum

At the Commonwealth People's Forum in Kampala, hundreds gathered at an open-air cinema in the Kawempe district for an evening of outdoor films, music, acrobatics, rap, and slam poetry. Veejays provided live simultaneous translation of a Kenyan feature film into Lugandan. Films from Cameroon, Kenya, Pakistan, and South Africa screened across 20 venues over five days.

The event was organized by the Amakula Kampala Cultural Foundation and the Commonwealth Foundation. Video halls -- cheap, accessible communal screening venues -- are a uniquely Ugandan tradition; open-air versions have grown more common as space expands.