National Geographic Documentary Films has acquired the worldwide rights to the recently released Bobi Wine: Ghetto President, a documentary about Ugandan singer and politician, Bobi Wine.
The docu which was premiered at the Venice Festival in Italy is directed by Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp.
It is produced by double Oscar winner John Battsek.
The story centres on Ugandan pop star Bobi Wine and his political journey to topple President Yoweri Museveni in a bid to lead the country. In 2021, Wine ran for President in a heated campaign that saw his freedoms curtailed including numerous arrests.
This political decision has also cost him the liberty to hold musical performances. However, he continues to release music aimed at evoking the political consciousness of the masses in Uganda, a journey (activism through music) he began long before his very first political move – being a Member of Parliament.
NatGeo Doc Films will roll out the film – Bobi Wine: Ghetto President – at global festivals throughout the rest of the year and release it in theaters in 2023.
The film screened on Sunday morning at Telluride Film Festival in Colorado (U.S.), where Wine and Nubian Li performed some of their songs for the festival goers.
In a statement, Nat Geo said… “At a time when people’s most basic human rights are being threatened around the world, including in the United States, Bobi Wine’s activism on behalf of all Ugandans is hugely inspiring, gripping and necessary. We are honored to help bring this beautiful and important film to the world.”
NatGeo Doc Films previously released the Academy Award, BAFTA and multiple Emmy Award-winning film Free Solo and the Academy Award-nominated film The Cave.
Most recently, in 2021 it released Becoming Cousteau, Fauci, The First Wave, The Rescue and Torn.
Reviews
Variety wrote of Bobi Wine: Ghetto President saying… “If there’s no feelgood uplift to the film’s trajectory — Museveni, after all, is still firmly in power — it’s Bobi Wine’s own irrepressible star quality that makes this Venice premiere a crowd pleaser, sure to be picked up by doc-oriented fests and distributors.”
Adding that Bobi Wine’s “impassioned vigor with which he throws himself into this literal no-win situation — at least coming closer to beating the system than any of his constituents can — is what gives “Bobi Wine: Ghetto President” its emotional heft”.
While The Hollywood Reporter compliments the film for its global relevance (comparing it with Navalny) through its ability to view its chaotic and harrowing political narrative through an American prism, it questions the consistency of the documentary’s narrative approach.
In its review, Deadline describes Bobi Wine: Ghetto President as a film full of stirring moments.
Adding… “One great strength of this documentary is that it spans so many years; Bwayo’s camera seems to have become embedded in Bobi Wine’s everyday life from the moment he engages with politics, ready for the moment in 2019 when he decides to stand as president two years later, then to follow the campaign. Of course, there are surely things it doesn’t show. He is never seen to be anything less than a heroic figure, unblemished by human failings or misdeeds; this is a film about the struggle, not a warts-and-all picture of the man behind the mission.”
