The Impact Of Video Halls “Bibanda” In Uganda

Bibanda Video Kiosk (Pix: Morgan Mbabazi)

THE FIRST study into the content and audiences of video halls (commonly known as Bibanda) in Uganda has clearly showed that Ugandans are willing to pay more money to watch local, East African or Nigerian productions than the blockbusters of Hollywood and Bollywood.

Although local (African) productions apart from Nigerian, Ghanaian and some Kenyan films are very scarce on the other hand they are not only hard to get but the operators and owners are concerned about copyright issues, the study titled, Survey of Content and Audiences of Video Halls in Uganda 2005 – 2006 says.

In the study conducted by Katerina Marshfield and Michiel van Oosterhout and funded by the Embassy of the United States of America in Kampala, most interviewees expressed their willingness to pay more money to see local productions. The high demand for Ugandan (or East African) productions, which became evident through the research, clearly indicates a potentially big distribution market for Ugandan filmmakers.

“The fact that most interviewees were willing to pay a higher entrance fee for a Ugandan production, should be an incentive for Ugandan (and East African) filmmakers to explore this avenue with more zeal,” the report suggests.

“With the support of the Uganda Video Hall Association (UVOA), which has an easy access to all the video halls and which is keen on developing copyright protected distribution in the country, home grown films could be promoted within an official framework. Charging a higher fee and protecting the film makers copyright would mean that more Ugandan productions would find their way to the video halls. However, the implementation of a new copyright law still remains a challenge.”

The release of the first Nigerian/Ugandan film co-production ‘Roses in the rain’ which premiered in Kampala at the end of April 2006 seems to be just the beginning of a whole range of Ugandan movies to be introduced onto the local market.

The study identifies Video Halls (VHs) as a large untapped distribution network of “infotainment” to underprivileged (grass root) communities. It therefore identified four main areas that are vital for further development of video halls as reputable centers of infotainment. “Though VHs owners and operators express their interest in the suggestion to bring more local, varied and educational or informative content to their audiences and to respect their specific needs, their access to such materials and their expertise in how to select them is very limited,” the report suggests.

It adds that, “Likewise, the audiences are hungry for films that they can relate to and that can not only entertain them but also inspire and motivate them by sharing with them knowledge and skills that can be helpful in improving their lifestyles. Thanks to the research and orientation workshops organised for the Video Jockies (VJs), there is also a growing demand for training in practical skills such as quality dubbing and translation techniques. The main concern of local Ugandan film makers, who are growing keen to screen their work in VHs, is the implementation of a copyright law that will protect their artistic merits.”

Its main purpose was to identify and analyze what is being shown to who and under which circumstances, in order to assess the potential of VHs as quality information and education venues and to design a contingency plan to develop them.

In Uganda there is a network of over 2,000 Video Halls that function as local cinemas and general audiovisual entertainment venues for grass root communities. The audiences that the current VHs cater for are mainly young people who have limited or no access to regular means of audio-visual communication, such as cinema and television.

The video halls are often the only affordable source of audio-visual input for many a young Ugandan. Due to their negative connotations, very few organisations have so far considered the video halls as an effective tool to reach needy communities and thus support their status as valuable information centers.

The original video hall concept is simple and economic. A structure is build and then it is equipped with wooden benches, one, two or more television screens and a video or DVD recorder or player. With the advancement of electronic and television technology many VHs also offer DSTV broadcast. VH shows attract many people because of their low entrance fees of Ushs200 – 500 ($10 – 30 US Cents) compared to $ 5-7 per a show for a Hollywood film in Cineplex.

On average, the VHs can seat between one hundred to five hundred viewers. Normally, there are four to seven shows a day. The first shows generally attract fewer viewers than later evening shows. Such ‘prime time’ shows easily fill up the VHs to their full capacity especially if it’s the English Premier Football League and Champions League.

Kampala is the video hall capital of Uganda. With more than four hundred video halls spread all over the city and with an average attendance rate of 198 customers per day, it can be estimated that video halls cater for over 79,000 customers per day. Considering that the entrance fee ranges between Ushs200 - 300 per show. The video hall industry generates over Ushs15.8 million ($9,028) each day in Kampala only.

Since two years ago, the video halls have also been paying tax and an annual license fee of between Ushs60, 000 – 250,000 ($34 - 142), depending on their size. In most cases the owners of video halls see the exploitation of video halls as an additional income. For the operators, however, it is often their only job and they depend on them for their livelihood.

Some VHs even build separate structures for the screening of soccer games only. In many VHs however, a game of soccer and a Nigerian film can be shown at the same time in the same room but on two separate screens. The decision about which sound is turned on then depends on the size of the audiences. Generally the soccer game audience always wins.

There are different classes of halls. The cheapest are made out of papyrus reeds. These are mostly found on the outskirts of town. The next step-ups are wooden or brick or stone structured. “Many halls still do not conform to the safety measures issued by the Union of Video Hall Owners and Operators Association in 2003. Electric wiring often hangs loosely connected and unprotected above the viewers. They are often situated in overcrowded neighbourhoods and slummy areas such as Kisenyi, Bwaise, Kawempe and Mulago,” the report says.

However, some VHs such as ‘Touch of Class’ in Luzira and ‘Model Entertainment Centre’ in Ggaba resemble in structure Western style cinemas: offering large flat TV screens often built directly into walls, comfortable seating, basic air conditioning facilities and sound proof foam insulation on the walls to keep noise inside.

The presence of a video hall in an area can be easily identified from a distance by the amplified sounds of music and translated sounds tracks blurring out from loudspeakers placed on the outside to attract customers.

It was done in five different categories: namely urban areas (Kampala), rural areas (Masaka, Nakasongola), conflict areas (Gulu, Lira, Karamoja), border areas (Busia) and fishing communities (Ssese islands, Nakasongola). The assumption for selecting these areas was that the needs of VH audiences vary depending on their livelihoods, lifestyles and general social living conditions rather than on geographic variables.

For example: In the eastern border town of Busia child trafficking, drug abuse and prostitution is rife. In the northern towns of Gulu and Lira people’s lives have been shaped by the threatening conflict with the Lord Resistance Army (LRA). On Sesse islands on Lake Victoria, HIV/Aids seems to be of main concern. The melting pot of Kampala, the biggest urban center of Uganda, displays an array of challenges of an African modern city, such as street children, unemployment, drug abuse and substandard living conditions.

“This research does not investigate these problems in depth, but considers their understanding to be an important foundation for drawing a meaningful and effective use of video halls as distribution centers of information and education and entertainment in the future,” the authors say.

As at the time of the research there was no diversification taking place in the content shown in video halls: for instance, what is seen (and liked) in Kampala is what the rest of the video halls in the country get to see. It is the video libraries in Kampala (mainly focusing on the enormous audiences in Kampala – 400 video halls daily showing films to an estimated 50, 000 and more people) which determine the content.

While in a VH one will hear “Customers” meaning viewers who visit video halls occasionally. “Members” are viewers who come to video halls every day and do not have any special benefits. “Jamu!” – an exclamation in Luganda, meaning “take it out”, through which audiences express their dismay at the quality of content of video tapes shown to them.

 VJs interpret foreign films and record them in a studio on the same sound track with the original audio. Sometimes special life performances take place. The word “VJ” was coined in parallel to “DJ”. Every VJ specialises in the interpretation of different genres and has his own specific audience of fans. Music videos – foreign as well as local play a vital role in attracting customers to shows. They are played before and between shows. They are known as the “crowd pullers.”

Although the VJ culture is most visible in Kampala they serve a variety of ethnic and linguistics groups. Some translators make it an art in itself to add their own humour to the content of the film. This means that they don’t stick to the real storyline. Sometimes this is so because the VJs themselves have received limited education and can, as a matter of fact, not translate the foreign films accurately.

“They make up for their lack of foreign language skills by pleasing their audiences with typical Ugandan humour. Around Makerere University, however, more serious translators are very popular because they stick to the official dialogues in the film,” says the report. “The popularity of a translator depends on the sophistication of his or her audience. Most translations are done in Luganda and distributed across the country. We were able to locate only a few regional translators who specialized in the Acholi language. However, in every region we visited, we met with a great interest in local translations and many people put their names down for a possible future training in translation and subtitling.”

As far as the presumed prevalence of action-packed and violent movies in the video halls is concerned, this research did find out that many films shown to young audiences are disturbing and unsuitable for their age groups. “In many video halls children were watching films that had semi nude scenes in them as well as killing and shooting scenes. Therefore, it is urgent to put in place a distribution system that is sensitive to the type of filmic storytelling children should be exposed to,” reads the report.

“The common claim that video halls are considered to be ‘bad places’ for youngsters because of regular screenings of pornographic films is debatable. Our research found little proof of blue movies being shown on a big scale,” the authors claim.

“This was partly due to the fact that video hall operators or owners were reluctant to talk about this issue. Some video hall operator would admit in a more relaxed interview atmosphere the presence of blue movies on the programme but would swear that they are shown to small groups of people and mainly after midnight. The small percentage of video halls that did show blue movies all stated that they were allowed by the authorities to show them at a late hour of the day. The fact that only a small number of people show up for such shows indicates, that the genre is not very popular and as such cannot disqualify video halls as places of immorality.”

The findings showed that the programmes currently shown in video halls constitute, first and foremost, of Nigerian and action packed films. Secondly, other genres, such as martial arts, science fiction, love stories, adventure, war movies, comedy, music programs and occasionally blue movies (with pornographic content) are also available. Even though this might seem like a fair amount of variety of content, these programmes have very little educational and informative value and most of them are old productions.

“Even though the repertoire of content shown in video halls across the country varied a little depending on the region (Kampala, Ssese Islands, Busia, Masaka, Gulu, Lira, Nakasongola and Karamoja), there was a clear tendency among the interviewees to demand for a more educational component in the VH programming. The fact that Nigerian movies, surpassing in number even the very popular action packed films, were genuinely considered to be educational, was a proof for that,” notes the report.

The authors say this research can be seen as a starting point for promoting the screening of local films in the video halls as well as for making more ‘real life’ and educational productions from all over the world available. “There is little need to sensitize the audiences about the benefits of attending video halls for the purpose of educating and informing themselves, as the premises of video halls already seem to be considered as extensions of the viewer’s living rooms. They are places, where viewers socialise; discuss current affairs as well as aesthetical and stylistic issues, while discovering other mysteries of life through film.”

According to the report, the reasons given for the popularity of Nigerian films and love stories indicates that many people are looking for sensitising film material through which they can learn about human behaviour. The reason given for looking at ‘action packed’ or ‘martial arts’ films are often to educate themselves about how to defend themselves for possible dangers. Given the poor and slum like circumstances in which many of the video hall goers are living, without having adequate protection from the authorities (the police and security LC’s), these films serve not only as entertainment but also as lessons in simple survival.

The formation of the Video Hall Owners and Operators Association (UVOA) in 2003, mainly driven by the demand from the Ugandan government to regulate the industry once and for all, finally the possibility of using video halls to their maximum potential has become a reality. UVOA’s participation in a cultural or educational film program in Kampala during the Amakula Kampala International Film Festival in 2004, 2005, 2006 and this year and the French Film Festival in 2004 and 2005 has set an example of how the video halls can be used successfully as educational and information venues.

“However, there is still much to be done,” the study observes. “Even though our interviewees were very careful about being openly critical of the services offered by the video halls, a lot can be improved. Lack of safety precautions, lack of ventilation, lack of strict control on who is allowed to enter the video hall for which performances and a lack of moral responsibility by video hall owners (allowing drug users and thieves to use their premises as hideouts), are the biggest threat to the survival of the video halls.”

Kampala is at this moment in time the real battleground between the ones that love the video halls (mainly youth) and the people that say that they are a threat to the welfare of Ugandan children and youth).  “…Even though all respondents vehemently stated that they don’t show any blue movies, not so long ago they were clearly doing it. This tag is not so easily removed, even though they try, via UVOA, to clean up their act.”