While the world’s top filmmakers gather at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) this month, the loudest voice in the room won’t be coming from a director’s chair but from “Iron Mic” of a Ugandan legend, VJ Emmy who will be premiering his own Film.
“Forget The Director, This Is Emmy’s Cut!”, an experimental documentary by French filmmaker Marion Desmaret, set for its World Premiere at IFFR on January 30th. The film serves as a high-octane portal into the world of VJ Emmy, the iconic “Video-Joker” who has become one of East Africa’s most recognizable voices without ever appearing on screen.
In the “kibandas” (informal neighborhood cinemas) of Kampala, a movie is never just a movie. It is a live performance. VJs like Emmy do more than translate; they hijack the narrative. Blending Luganda and English with satire and critique, VJ Emmy transforms Western blockbusters and martial arts classics into localized, communal experiences.
“He is part oral historian, part stand-up prophet,” says Director Marion Desmaret. “In Emmy’s hands, cinema is not a passive observation. It is a radical act of reappropriation.”
The documentary captures the electricity of these spaces just as they face an uncertain future. As digital consumption and economic shifts threaten to shutter Kampala’s wooden cinema halls, the film documents the kibanda as a site of “urgency rather than nostalgia.”
Desmaret, whose previous work includes a deep dive into Uganda’s Nyege Nyege Festival, refuses to treat the VJ culture as a mere curiosity. Instead, the film hands Emmy the controls, allowing him to VJ his own image and the documentary itself.
The IFFR selection marks a pivotal moment for Ugandan popular culture on the global stage. Beyond the screenings, VJ Emmy will bring the practice to life with a live VJ session on January 31st, where he will perform his signature real-time remixing for an international audience.
Screening & Performance Schedule:
- Jan 30: World Premiere & Q&A (KINO 3)
- Jan 31: VJ Emmy Live Performance (WORM Central Station)
- Feb 01: Final Festival Screening (KINO 3)
The film’s presence at one of the world’s most forward-thinking festivals poses a destabilizing question to the industry: In a world of globalized media, who truly owns the story?
Watch the Trailer:
