This highly engaging film follows Ugandan pop star Bobi Wine – aka Robert Kyagulanyi – in his rise from the ghettos of Kampala to a seat in the Ugandan parliament, where he now constitutes the key opposition figure. However, democracy in Uganda exists only on paper, and current president Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for more than 30 years, has no plans to resign. And so Bobi Wine incurs the full-blown wrath of the Ugandan state, which repeatedly kidnaps and tortures him – as well as his colleagues and supporters – as he travels around the country canvassing for votes. Fuelled by Wine’s infectious tunes, the film is both riveting and heartbreaking, echoing 2022’s Navalny in its portrait of a charismatic, popular and media-savvy opposition politician who takes on the leader of a monolithic and relentless fascist state.
Bobi Wine
The People's President
In Uganda’s 2021 presidential election, music star, activist and opposition leader Bobi Wine, together with his wife Barbie, rallies his people in a dangerous fight for freedom from President Museveni’s oppressive 35-year regime.
Awards
DocAviv Film Festival (2023) – Nominated: Beyond the Screen Competition
Hamptons International Film Festival (2022) – Winner: Audience Award: Best Documentary Feature
Hamptons International Film Festival (2022) – Nominated: Golden Starfish Award: Documentary Feature
IDFA Netherlands (2022) – Nominated: Best of Fests
Independent Film Festival of Boston (2023) – Winner: Audience Award: Documentary Feature
Millenium Festival (2023) – Nominated: Audience Prize
Millenium Festival (2023) – Nominated: Best Film on Human Rights – Bronze Award
One World Int'l Human Rights Doc FF (2023) – Nominated: Right to Know Competition
Venice Film Festival, Italy (2022) – Nominated: Out of Competition (Non Fiction)
Press
Bobi Wine: The People’s President is a captivating portrait of abuse and corruption in the East African nation.
It is a testament to not giving up and the strength of a people united—not just by a song, but by a deep belief in a just future.
Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo’s documentary snapshot Bobi Wine: Ghetto President is as gripping as any thriller but without the tidy, uplifting resolution that real life rarely provides.
Bobi Wine, braves the tear gas with his campaign team in order to reach the campaign destination in Sironko District, Eastern Uganda, December 15, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Bobi Wine decides to travel to a campaign location in Kayunga District by motorbike. The Ugandan security vehicles had previously prevented his cars from entering the venue on December 1, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Bobi Wine, assists his music producer Dan Magic into a hospital in Kayunga, Uganda, after he was injured by police teargas canisters and rubber bullets used to disperse crowds on December 1, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Bobi Wine and his supporters drive through at breakneck speed in Masindi District, Western Uganda after successfully evading a blockade erected by Ugandan security forces to prevent them from reaching their next campaign venue on November 26, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni during one of his televised addresses to the country on January 16, 2022. He has been in power for at least the last 37 years. He seized power in 1986 after staging guerilla warfare in 1980 that killed at least 500,000 Ugandans. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (standing on roof of the vehicle), a candidate in Uganda’s general elections in 2021 and widely regarded as the closest challenger to incumbent Yoweri Museveni, campaigns in Butaleja district in the country’s East on November 17, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Ugandan politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, also known as Bobi Wine, campaigns with a megaphone. Before they could reach the campaign venue in Kumi District, he and his campaign team were tear gassed and subjected to numerous obstacles by Ugandan security forces on November 15, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Bobi Wine and a prospective candidate running for the position of member of parliament under the National Unity Platform cheer on their supporters during one of the campaign sessions, November 25, 2020. The campaigns have been marred by violence toward the opposition candidates and their supporters. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Bobi Wine on top of his vehicle during the 2021 presidential campaigns as he solicited for support in Nakaseke, Central Uganda on November 18, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Bobi Wine as he took his supporters on a run on a marram road in Katakwi district in Eastern Uganda, November 14, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Bobi Wine during an exchange with Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and Local Defence Unit (LDU) after they stopped his procession along Jinja road, Kampala as he headed for his campaigns on November 30, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Bobi Wine atop his vehicle as he drove through Kayunga district during the presidential campaigns that were flawed with brutality and violence by security agencies, December 1, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Music producer to Bobi Wine, Daniel Oyerwot with covered lips after they were hit and cut by a tear gas canister during the campaign trail of Bobi Wine in Kayunga on December 1, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Bobi Wine in a police arrest van after he was arrested in Luuka district, Eastern Uganda, and later charged with spreading a dangerous disease of COVID-19, November 18, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Bobi Wine on top of his vehicle with his wife Barbara ltungo Kyagulanyi as they campaigned in Kasanda district, Central Uganda on November 27, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Bobi Wine lashes at the Ugandan security personnel who stopped him from getting to the location of his campaign event in Mbale District, Eastern Uganda, November 15, 2020. (photo credit: Lookman Kampala)
Barbie puts her head on the table. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
Bobi Wine standing on top of a car at a rally. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
Bobi walking in the ghetto. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
Bobi at a rally in his red beret. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
Bobi visiting the ghetto. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
Bobi campaigning in Arua. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
Bobi campaigning in Arua. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
Barbie in the car on the phone. (mandatory credit: Southern Films)
Bobi and Barbie hugging. (mandatory credit: Southern Films)
Bobi in the car wearing helmet. (mandatory credit: Southern Films)
Christopher Sharp, Co-director, and producer. (photo courtesy of Southern Films)
KAMPALA, UGANDA – NOVEMBER 03: Bobi Wine and his wife, Barbie Itungo Kyagulany, address the media before leaving their house for the Presidential Nominations on November 03, 2020 in Kampala, Uganda. Popular singer Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, better known by his stage name of H.E. Bobi Wine, is set to appear before the Independent Electoral Commission this morning to be nominated to stand against incumbent Yoweri Museveni in the upcoming Presidential elections in Uganda. (Photo by Luke Dray/Getty Images)
TELLURIDE, COLORADO – SEPTEMBER 04: Barbie Kyagulanyi and Bobi Wine attend the Telluride Film Festival on September 04, 2022 in Telluride, Colorado. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images)
Musician turned politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine (C) is joined by other activists in Kampala on July 11, 2018 in Kampala during a demonstration to protest a controversial tax on the use of social media. – Police fired live bullets and teargas to disperse a rowdy crowd during the protests. (Photo credit should read ISAAC KASAMANI/AFP via Getty Images)
Moses Bwayo, Co-director. (photo courtesy of Southern Films)
Bobi Wine on a motorbike escaping from police in Uganda Kampala. (Mandatory photo credit: Katumba Badru)
Bobi in the studio. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
Bobi on the phone at home. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
Barbie crying on the phone. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
Bobi visiting a friend in the hospital. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
Close up shot of Bobi looking worried. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
Bobi’s wife, Barbie. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)
A worried Bobi Wine. (Mandatory photo credit: Southern Films)