This year, many Ugandan filmmakers are taking matters in their own hands when it comes to where they showcase their work. After years of depending on broadcast media for exhibition, today, many are finding alternatives, especially with YouTube, a video sharing application, and website, which is also globally one of the most visited sites. Since the Covid-19 lockdown, a good number of creatives took to the Internet and YouTube became a platform where Ugandans found information and entertainment. From Loukman Ali premiered his Sixteen Rounds on YouTube and later Swangz Avenue premiered Rolex, directed by Benon Mugumbya. A number of series and films have since been uploaded to the platform as the second screen after premiere or after a television run.
But Ties That Bind Us, by Incredible Media is one of those high profile TV shows with a brilliant cast, storyline, production values and yet it was premiered specifically on YouTube. With a stellar cast of celebrated Ugandan actors such as Simon Base Kalema, Mike Musoke, Diana Kahunde, Raymond Rushabiro, Marijan Hussein and Timothy Lwanga, they still put together an exciting cast of new faces such as 2024’s Best Actress winner Pelly Peninah Nampanga, Kenny Rukundo, Nakubulwa Clare Desire, Mark Agume, Jjemba Austin Musoke and comedian Carolyn Kunihira, among others. Ties That Bind Us is a story of two families at crossroads they created themselves.
There is more than one way to look at the story of the series; two families, the Ssenyonjos and the Lutaayas, enter a gentleman’s agreement to have their families united through marriage of their children, they agree and seal the deal. One of the families, the Lutaayas, is modest, scrapping by and accumulating loans here and there, while the other family, the Ssenyonjos, sits on top of a coffee empire. How the two vastly very different families of old money and paupers come to an understanding to unite their fate for good is not really explained but it happens. By the time the show opens, the Lutaayas are in high gear for this event, where their daughter will be marrying the heir of the Ssenyonjos’ fortune. The family is looking at the marriage as their ticket out of poverty and the excitement stinks, but there is one catch, the bride-to-be, Lillian Lutaaya, is yet to learn about these details.
Lillian is the second part of the whole story, a poor man’s daughter who comes to the city to study and while at it, finds love and she’s even proposed to. How the good girl managed to find love, starts staying with the man without any of her relatives even knowing this man exists is again something that doesn’t make sense. Anyway, she’s called home and innocently shows up, excited to break the news of her engagement to her mother only to learn that her introduction to David Ssenyonjo is taking place that weekend. It is a good story premise, especially in an African setting where families still choose women and men for their children, but many things don’t make sense; the fact that most of this went on without the girls’ knowledge or the fact that their good daughter moved in with a man and got proposed to without their knowledge.
As the story develops further, we also go on to learn that Lutaaya has been getting loans from one Hajji to educate the daughter, which leaves a question, what exactly does the rich family he badly wants to wed his daughter have on him? Why is he afraid of disappointing them? Anyway, Ties That Bind Us, is still an amazing production with remarkable acting. Its the biggest asset here, Kahunde and Musoke act well alongside each other, even though their characters for most of the time lack any accountability for their choices. It becomes hard to know their characters’ real point of view on any of the happenings.
