By Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu alias Bobi Wine The National Unity Platform leader has won the “Cinema High Honors” award after his Documentary BobiWine The Peoples President from 2017 was voted the most-watched documentary in the world. The Cinema Eye Honors award ceremony was held in New York City
Bobi Wine The People’s President recently won the IDA Documentary Award for Best Documentary Feature and has earned top prizes at the Hamptons International Film Festival and Independent Film Festival of Boston. It was nominated for three awards at Friday’s Cinema Eye Honors in New York.
Bobi Wine has also been named to the Cinema Eye Honors’ Unforgettables list of the year’s most remarkable figures in documentary film.
Directed by Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo, and produced by Sharp and Oscar-winner John Battsek, the docu follows the attempt by musician Bobi Wine to topple the repressive regime of Ugandan president Yoweri Museven. The film was acquired by National Geographic following its 2022 premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
“Born in the slums of Kampala, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, famously known as Bobi Wine, is a musician turned politician who is the current leader of the National Unity Platform (NUP) and the People Power Movement,” notes a release about the film. “He has campaigned for hospital sanitization, malaria prevention, refugees’ rights, and children’s education. His songs are known as peaceful protests and edutainment (a mix between education and entertainment), focusing on the struggles of Uganda’s underprivileged and low-income earners and calling upon young people to join politics and change their country’s destiny.”
At great risk to his life, Bobi Wine has opposed Gen. Museveni, ruler of Uganda since the 1980s. Museveni and his son, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, face potential charges from the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
