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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Carlos Mureithi in Kampala

Video stars: the booming VJ scene localising Hollywood films for Ugandans

Hollywood Uganda
two people arranging dvds in a shop stacked with hundreds of them
Employees arrange VJ DVDs at Ronnie’s Entertainment, a video store in Katwe, Kampala, in April. Photograph: Carlos Mureithi/The Guardian

On a recent Saturday afternoon in an informal settlement in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, dozens of young men sat on benches in a dark shack to watch a bootlegged version of the Hollywood comedy-horror film The Monkey.

As the English-language action unfolded on the screen, a voiceover translation in the Bantu language Luganda by VJ Junior, one of Uganda’s top video jockeys, boomed into the room.

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