Uganda’s celebrated Video Joker (VJ) culture is set for a major global spotlight as renowned Video Joker Emmy becomes the subject of a bold new film by French filmmaker Marion Desmaret.
Titled Forget the Director, This Is Emmy’s Cut, the film will have its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), marking a significant international milestone for Ugandan popular cinema and grassroots storytelling.
The film will screen on January 30 and February 1, 2026, with an added highlight on January 31 when VJ Emmy will stage a rare live Video Joker performance in Rotterdam, transforming the cinema into a vibrant, communal space reminiscent of Kampala’s neighbourhood movie halls.
Rather than observing Uganda’s Video Joker culture from a distance, Forget the Director, This Is Emmy’s Cut fully inhabits it. Shot across Kampala’s rapidly disappearing kibandas, informal cinemas that have shaped generations of film lovers, the project blends vérité documentary, stylised fiction and layered narration to mirror the energy and spontaneity of live VJ performances.
At the centre of the film is VJ Emmy, one of Uganda’s most recognisable cultural voices. Though he never appears on screen, his narration, humour and commentary have made him a star in his own right, transforming foreign films into locally grounded, relatable experiences.
Through a mix of Luganda and English, Emmy delivers humour, social critique and performance, blurring the lines between audience and screen, fiction and lived reality. In a playful rejection of traditional cinematic hierarchy, he Video-Jokers not only famous films but also his own image, his city and even the film itself.
The Rotterdam screenings extend the experience beyond cinema. Emmy’s live performance reclaims Video Jokering as a living, evolving art form, reinforcing its role as a communal tradition rooted in everyday life rather than a nostalgic artifact.
Director Marion Desmaret, who works between Uganda, France and Germany, began her career at ARTE before moving into independent documentary and experimental film. Her work consistently centres countercultures and marginalised voices, including her 2022 documentary on Uganda’s Nyege Nyege Festival. This collaboration with Kampala-based creatives continues that trajectory.
IFFR’s selection of the film highlights its global relevance. Known for championing politically engaged and experimental cinema, the festival provides a fitting platform for a film that challenges how stories are owned, translated and circulated across cultures.
From Kampala’s kibandas to one of Europe’s most respected film festivals, VJ Emmy’s journey is a powerful testament to how local voices, when authentically told, can resonate far beyond their origins.
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