Faith Nyasuguta
On September 23, 2024, the documentary ‘The Tonto Masters of Kainamo’ premiered worldwide on the Kenyan digital cinema platform, MyMovies.Africa. The 2022 Ugandan film, set in the heart of Kainamo Village in southwestern Uganda’s Bushenyi district, highlights the traditional craft of brewing Tonto, a banana-based beer cherished by the Banyankore people.
The film takes viewers through the intricate, fading process of making Tonto, from ripening bananas in a specially prepared pit to fermenting them in wooden boats.
Narrated by Nsaba Leonard Mafara, the documentary focuses on Brewmaster Kiiza Francis, who demonstrates the meticulous steps required to produce Tonto. The film sheds light on the delicate balance between preserving cultural heritage and embracing modernization, as ancient brewing techniques face the risk of disappearing due to rapid development and changing lifestyles.
Trushna Buddhdev-Patel, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Content Director of YAKWETU—the parent company of MyMovies.Africa—emphasized the importance of preserving Africa’s cultural traditions. “In 2024 and beyond, it’s critical that such traditions from Africa are preserved,” she said. Buddhdev-Patel highlighted the platform’s commitment to raising global awareness and supporting filmmakers who tell such culturally significant stories.
MyMovies.Africa has introduced a new feature called Request Screening, which allows institutions such as museums, universities, and schools to host screenings offline while ensuring content remains protected from piracy. This feature enables educational institutions and organizations to showcase important cultural documentaries like ‘The Tonto Masters of Kainamo’ without compromising the security of the film’s content. The feature was first successfully tested with Mavuno Church in Uganda during a Good Friday screening of ‘Where the River Divides’ in early 2024.
Mike Strano, Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer of YAKWETU, encouraged institutions in Uganda and its diaspora to screen ‘The Tonto Masters of Kainamo’ as a starting point for discussions on cultural preservation. “We hope that universities, colleges, schools, government offices, and non-governmental organizations in Uganda and its diaspora will screen this documentary to emphasize the importance of preserving such cultural traditions,” Strano said.
The film is available for rent or purchase on MyMovies.Africa in local currencies, with proceeds going directly to the filmmakers to support future storytelling. Strano also announced his upcoming visit to Kampala on October 18, 2024, following presentations on distribution and anti-piracy at European Work in Progress (EWIP) and the International Film Distribution Summit (IFDS) in Germany. He looks forward to meeting more Ugandan filmmakers to expand the platform’s catalog of local content.
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