Call Me Kuchu

Katherine, Naome, and Malika after the World Premiere
of Call Me Kuchu

Just over one month ago we were told that CALL ME KUCHU had been invited to have its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. To be honest, it came as a bit of a shock to us both, and when we first read the email we weren’t positive that we could finish the film in time. But for some reason we decided to give it a go…

Over the course of a grueling and sleepless three weeks, we finished the edit (with the support of consulting editor extraordinaire Yana Gorskaya), took the film through color correction and a sound mix, and gave it a once-over with our legal counsel to make sure we were in good shape to screen the film to the public (as luck would have it, we were). We also spent a nerve-wracking week wrangling travel permission and transport for Naome Ruzindana, one of the LGBT activists featured in the film, so that she could join us in Berlin.

Finally, on the evening of Saturday February 11th, with Naome by our side, we presented CALL ME KUCHU for its world premiere at the Berlinale. The result? Many hundreds of bums in seats and lots of engaged voices, three screenings in a row.

It cost a fair amount of money as well as effort to reach this crucial point, and none of that would have been possible without the phenomenal support provided by our superstar funders Chicken & Egg Pictures and the Catapult Film Fund, as well as our generous Kickstarter donors. Today our Kickstarter campaign closed with a heartening $11,044, or 110% of our goal, so we’ve got to say great big THANK YOU to everyone who donated and helped us spread the word!

And there’s more good news: CALL ME KUCHU scooped up two awards at the Berlinale — the Teddy Award for Best Documentary and the Cinema Fairbindet Award, which includes a German theatrical release for the film later this year! CALL ME KUCHU also came second place in the Panorama Audience Award (close behind the striking doc MARINA ABRAMOVIC: THE ARTIST IS PRESENT) and received an honorable mention for the Siegessäule Readers Choice Award.

We are thrilled that David’s story is receiving the attention it deserves, especially at this crucial juncture when Kampala’s kuchus need the world’s attention more than ever. Just two weeks ago the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was reintroduced in Uganda’s Parliament, and last week a government minister shut down an LGBT conference in Kampala, claiming that the activists were intent on recruiting Ugandans into homosexuality. It’s clear that the situation still requires action, and we’re hoping that CALL ME KUCHU will spur further efforts to support the LGBT activists working on the ground to end state-sanctioned homophobia in Uganda.

We’ll keep you posted on our outreach and advocacy plans for CALL ME KUCHU, as well as future screenings, and please do get in touch: callmekuchu@gmail.com with any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you!

Malika & Katy