I always give myself an hour every morning, where I dedicate my mornings to some of my interesting podcasts. One of them being the Raydioactive Podcast, a vibrant and fresh Ugandan based pod by Raymond Kahuma(A podcast you should look into ). The guest on the pod was movie director, Loukman Ali.
Looking through Loukman’s YouTube channel, I was actually impressed. So I went forward and gave The Blind Date a watch. The first couple seconds into the scene of the movie was instantly a 10/10. Now to give you a short backstory of this film; It’s a crime film, that takes place in Uganda.
The intro to it was great. The dialogue between the father and kidnappers, giving off a very chilling, mysterious vibe to it. The acting was definitely convincing.
The movie kicks off with the father picking up an unknown call at a telephone booth, trying to negotiate with the kidnappers, who request for a ransom if he wishes to get his daughter back. The protagonist in this movie, is the daughter(played by Martha Kay) who’s being held hostage by three men. The twist to it, is where one of the men disguised themselves to be another hostage that found a way to communicate to the daughter, while in another room. The girl develops a level of trust for this man. He then sets out to be the hero in the movie, as he kills his accomplices once the father sends out the money. Weeks later, both the girl and the guy seem to have developed love for one another, till she later finds out that he is the mastermind of the whole crime.
The budget to this movie must have been off the charts, just by looking at the overall production, from the opening sequence, camera quality, to even the actors themselves(not that I’m an expert or anything), I’d say Loukman Ali took his time to create this amazing piece of work. It might be a bit of an exaggeration but this could’ve been the best short film I’ve actually come across, given that I hardly watch any, but it surely opened my eyes to short films and the stories they portray. The movie is part of a six episode crime anthology and that was just the first one. Excited about what is to follow. He has other projects that are not short films like The girl in the yellow jumper. I’d highly recommend to give them a watch.
Loukman Ali’s vision is going to be something that shouldn’t go without recognition. East Africa’s got their own Steven Spielberg.
