Ugandan films you can watch right now

A note on availability: streaming catalogues change from country to country and month to month. Everything below was listed at the time we checked; tell us if something has gone.

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Three films for someone who has never watched a Ugandan film, all free:

1. Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010, Nabwana I.G.G.). The one that made Wakaliwood famous. Reportedly made for under $200, and it has passed ten million views on YouTube.
2. Bad Black (2016, Nabwana I.G.G.). Wakaliwood with more money and more ambition. It won the audience award at Fantastic Fest in Texas.
3. Sixteen Rounds (2021, Loukman Ali). A 37-minute crime short from the director of The Girl in the Yellow Jumper. It won Best African Short at the Durban Film Festival.

Free on YouTube

Wakaliwood. Ramon Film Productions has been making action films in Wakaliga, Kampala, since 2005, and puts its films on its own YouTube channel, the Official Wakaliwood Video Channel. Watch them with the VJ: the “video joker” whose live commentary is half the experience. VJ Emmie is on every Wakaliwood release.

• Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010). Full film on the official channel since 2015.
• Bad Black (2016). Full film on the official channel since December 2019.
• Crazy World (2014). Premiered online in 2020, through the official channel.

Loukman Ali.

• Sixteen Rounds (2021). Released free on YouTube in September 2021.

On Netflix

• Masaka Kids: A Rhythm Within (2025, Moses Bwayo and David Vieira Lopez). A 40-minute documentary about the dancing kids from Masaka. A Netflix original, so it should be on Netflix everywhere.
• The Girl in the Yellow Jumper (2020, Loukman Ali). The first Ugandan film on Netflix, added in December 2021. Netflix’s catalogue changes, so search for it before you plan on it.

Showmax is gone

Showmax shut down on 30 April 2026. Some of its catalogue moved to DStv Stream. If a Ugandan film you remember was on Showmax, look for it on DStv Stream. We’re still going through what moved across.

About Wakaliwood itself

Once Upon a Time in Uganda (2021, Cathryne Czubek). A documentary about Nabwana and Alan Hofmanis, the New York film programmer who moved to Wakaliga to help him. It premiered at Fantastic Fest. In the US and UK it’s on Prime Video and several free services. We haven’t found a way to watch it from Uganda yet.

The ones to look out for

These won the Uganda Film Festival’s top prize but aren’t streaming anywhere we can find. Watch for festival screenings and cinema runs.

• Nkinzi (2024, Rehema Nanfuka). Best Feature and Best Director at UFF 2025.
• Makula (2024, Nisha Kalema). Best Feature at UFF 2024. It played at Century Cinemax, Arena Mall in June 2024.
• The Passenger (2023, Hadijah Nakanjako). Best Feature at UFF 2023, with five awards. It aired on Maisha Magic Movies on DStv.
• Tembele (2022, Morris Mugisha). Uganda’s first ever Oscar submission. It streams in the US, but not, as far as we can tell, in Uganda.

Next door: East African picks on Netflix

• Country Queen (Kenya, 2022). Netflix’s first Kenyan series.
• Binti (Tanzania, 2021, Seko Shamte). Tanzania’s first film on Netflix.
• Inside Job (Kenya, 2025). A comedy starring Jacky Vike and Mammito.

All three are Netflix titles. Search for them in the app, since catalogues differ by country.

Know a Ugandan film that’s streaming and isn’t here? Tell us and we’ll add it.