Somebody Clap For Me

Documentary
in competition for “Best Documentary”

Somebody Clap for Me, by Brazilian director Luciana Farah, provides a fascinating window into life in contemporary Uganda that links the country’s oral tradition to its 21st century culture of slam poetry and hip-hop. This unconventional film, made with the support of Maisha Film Lab, chronicles the resurfacing of village bonfire traditions in an urban setting, introducing the audience to key members of Kampala-based grassroots poetry collectives. These eclectic individual portraits combine to form a vision of a country trying to shed its past and build a more democratic reality, despite the conservative forces latching on to power.