Josiah Kibira is a Tanzanian independent filmmaker.

Early life

He was born in Bukoba in

Kagera Region Kagera Region (''Mkoa wa Kagera'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Netherlands. Kagera Region is borde ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

, the son o
Josiah Kibira and Martha Kibira
He attended college in Lindsborg, Kansas and graduated with a degree in Business Administration. He later obtained an MBA at Metropolitan State University in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. He came to the realization that no movies had been made in

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

. After contemplating this for several years, he wrote a script for a Swahili movie. It took him another 3 years to start making the movie. Finally, the movie ''Bongoland'' was made. According to him, the arrival of digital video cameras made it easy for independent filmmakers to produce movies cheaply. After ''Bongoland'', Kibira continued to write and make movies in Swahili. ''Tusamehe'' was his second movie, intended to raise awareness of the

AIDS epidemic The global epidemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 2021, HIV/AI ...

that was ravaging African countries at the time, especially his own country of Tanzania.

References

Tanzanian film directors Metropolitan State University alumni Living people People from Bukoba Year of birth missing (living people) {{Tanzania-film-director-stub