Matatu Film Stage is a travelling pan-African film festival that began in Uganda. The festival takes its name from the matatu, the colourful public minibuses found across East African cities that carry people, stories, music, and ideas from one place to another. In the same spirit, Matatu Film Stage is built around movement. It carries African cinema across borders and into different kinds of spaces, creating opportunities for stories to meet new audiences.

 

Rather than limiting screenings to traditional theatres, the festival embraces a flexible and community-driven approach to exhibition. Films are presented in cinemas, cultural venues, public spaces, and unexpected environments where audiences can gather, watch together, and engage in conversation. The programme focuses on bold and original films from African and diaspora filmmakers, many of whom work outside mainstream distribution systems and whose stories are often underrepresented internationally.