Why KFS
You could study film anywhere. Here is why filmmakers come to Kampala.
You make films, not exercises
Every course at KFS is practical and project-based. You are on set, on location, in the edit — working the way films are actually made. Not listening to a lecture about filmmaking. Making films.
The distinction matters, because filmmaking is a craft, and craft is learned by doing.
- You operate professional cameras from your first weeks
- You work in crews from your first production
- You edit your own footage
- You record and mix sound
- You finish films — not exercises
By the end of your first semester, you will have made something you can show. It may be rough. It may be simple. But it will exist. And you will have learned from making it.
You leave with work to show
Graduates leave KFS with completed films and industry-ready projects. When you sit across from a producer, you do not describe your skills. You show them. A qualification tells people what you studied. Your work shows them what you can do.
- Completed short films
- Documentary work
- Scripts and treatments
- A reflective production journal
- A professional portfolio
Not fragments. Not notes. Films.
You learn from filmmakers who work
Our tutors and mentors are working professionals — directors, cinematographers, producers, editors, sound practitioners, designers, researchers. Not just teachers. They teach what they practise.
- Your tutor is a working filmmaker
- Masterclasses bring in industry professionals
- Guest sessions come from regional and international practitioners
- Studio critique comes from people who work in the industry
The classroom connects to the set.
You work above Lake Victoria
The largest lake in Africa. The source of the Nile. Our campus sits above it, and it shapes how our students see — the light, the water, the landscape, the locations no studio can build.
- Location filming is built into the curriculum
- Students learn to work with natural light
- Real environments, not just controlled studios
- A place to learn how to look
A filmmaker has to learn how to look — and our location gives students something worth looking at.
You tell East African stories
Our programmes centre African storytelling and its social impact. Students learn to look closely at their own region — its people, its histories, its questions — and tell those stories with craft.
The region is not simply where we are. It is part of what we study, observe, question and make.
- Courses in African Cinema and Visual Anthropology
- Documentary training grounded in research and ethics
- Screenwriting that begins with lived experience
- A curriculum rooted in the region
Since 2009, more than 500 filmmakers have trained here.
Some names you may already know.
Moses Bwayo
Moses Bwayo is co-director and cinematographer of Bobi Wine: The People's President, nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. He is a leading documentary filmmaker in East Africa. He has appeared through AGC, BBC and VICE News. While filming in Uganda, he was arrested, imprisoned and shot in the face at close range. He kept the camera rolling.
Beryl Magoko
Beryl Magoko is a Kenyan filmmaker who studied at KFS (then KU-FTF). Kampala University. Her graduation film The Cut won the Zanzibar Film Festival. Her first feature, In Search..., won Best Student Documentary at IDFA.
Edmond Tamale
Edmond Tamale directed The Panther, Going Beyond Kenya and Akasi. A winner at both Documentaries at the Heart of Europe Film Festival and the Uganda Film Festival, his work has been recognised in the category at the Sikh International Film Festival.
Leonard Amanya
Leonard Amanya is Officer for Film & Cinematography at the Uganda Communications Commission. He co-founded the KFS student Film Club and served as its first president. He is a member of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Semulema Daniel Katenda
Semulema Daniel Katenda produced Imperial Blue (2019), which began as a KFS student production project. He now leads visual production in East Africa for the UN World Food Programme and African Evangelistic Distribution Academy in 2025.
Josh SB
Josh SB (Joshua Waiswa Timothy) is a filmmaker and music producer. Head of Content at Swangz Avenue, director of A Dance with the Bride and Production, and founder of 2024 GSB.
