Arty Farty Week Oyee!

It’s the time of the year when my favorite cultural festival comes to town.

 

The Amakula Kampala Film Festival is here again.  Yay!  Since Thursday last week the days have been warm and bright and full of orangey-yellow hues and nothing in the world matters apart from good film and good fun.

 

Despite all the publicity and the promise of free films, Amakula Kampala continues to be very poorly attended.  I think the fact that the festival is so widely ignored among a class of Ugandans that claim to be educated, informed and cultured is a shame.

 

This blog post is intended to point you to some of the highlights (according to me) of the festival and to coax you to participate (do it for me) in one of the few brilliant cultural events (so says me) in our seemingly cultural-less city (yeah, me again).  I do hope the lineup below will tickle your arty farty bone and interest you in coming for at least one show.

Whirlwinds of my Mind

How do you say goodbye to a dream, ending hope and anticipation? 

Does shutting out the light prolong the night, does closing your eyes kill the dawn?  

When does your life become your reality, when does existence feel true?

How can I say goodbye to this dream?

How can I wake in the morn?

 

Teach me to let go of my illusions and to find veracity in the abstract.

Teach me to treat pain like my brother and joy like a new born child.

Teach me that fantasy and realism are one and that light brings no fear or loss

Teach to say no to the shadows; teach me to wake up at dawn.

Teach me to say goodbye to this dream, this dream that is drowning my cause.

 

* The painting at the top of this post is Starry Night by the inimitable Vincent Van Gogh.