To help me make this film, you can give a one-off donation through PayPal, or you pledge continuous support for this and future films through Patreon, Ko-Fi, or LiberaPay
A bit of background
I think I’m a decent filmmaker, but I’ve struggled to get attention outside of Uganda. When I started out in the mid-2000s, no one considered African science fiction and fantasy, and now that they do (after Black Panther and the capitalist looking for profit in diversity) I still struggle mostly due to the set up of the global economic system and film markets. This is compounded by the lack of a viable film market in Africa to support sci-fi ventures, as the monopoly buyers of our content prefer the cheap and safe humdrum drama. Yet I want to tell speculative fiction stories set in cultures I grew up with, and so starting around 2017 I turned to crowd funding and it enabled me to make many short films as target practice. Now, I can boast of visual effects like this. Even $1 helps for it shows that you enjoy my stories enough to pay for it, and that keeps me creating. And, for your support, I have a lot of ways to say thank you! So make a one-off donation to the The Night Dancer via PayPal, or pledge to support this and future films through Patreon, Ko-Fi, or LiberaPay.
This film, The Night Dancer, will help build my art since through it I’ll get a grip on motion capture techniques. In my previous film, Lanyonyo, the robot animation was a bit wonky. Some people say it fits the character, but I want more lifelike movement for Lanyonyo will appear in more films.
I need about $1,000 to shoot this film. Of this, about $400 pays the cast; $200 is for transport and catering; $300 goes into set designs, costumes, props, and such production costs; $100 cover rehearsals expenses, music, drums, and the like. $1,000 looks low for film production, but I work in a low-income country, and, more important, I already have all the equipment I need, a studio for the location and a salaried crew. I’ll shoot with whatever money I raise. If I don’t get all the $1,000 the production will take longer and it will punch a deep hole in my wallet. With your help, I’ll finish the film round about the 31st of July, this year.
The Story
The Night Dancer is modeled on the revenge fantasy genre, but instead of kungu-fu, or karate, or guns, we use dance. The storyline goes something like this; the bad guy uses dance to do horrible things to the heroine, who then learns a more powerful dance and exerts her revenge. In Western cultures, witches and wizards use spells and wands. In many African cultures, similar characters use songs and dances, among other power tools. Please don’t call these characters witches or wizards or witchdoctors, I’ll explain in detail in another post. You can follow my newsletter to be notified once I write it. The bottom line is using English words distorts what these people actually are, and the mythology behind them. Oh, read more about the mythology of the night dancer here.
So Why Support This Project?
First, you help a struggling filmmaker reach greater heights. More important, as evident in the plot, you help diverse stories rise to the surface. At some point I get sick of reading about witches and dragons, and I long for something new. Perhaps you too want a refreshing experience.
And what do you get in return for your support? Well, there’s a lot of perks. The tiers are in dollars, but you can use a currency of your choice (if the platforms allow). And of course, you can donate any amount you are able to give beyond what I’ve put down below.
Rewards
Donate $1 and you get early access to the film. I’ll release the film for free on my PeerTube channel. Plus, you get digital art and wallpapers for your devices, desktop or mobile, themed on film. Plus, you get mentioned in the credits!
Donate $3 and get all above plus access to download a high quality version of the film.
Donate $5 and get all above plus access to download Little Red Eve (2025), my most recent short film. See the trailer here. Plus a screenplay version of the film.
Donate $10 and get all above plus access to download Akoota (2019). See the trailer here. Plus, you get a short story version, which will give you more backstory of the characters, and of the magic system, and the world in which all these play out. Of course, the plot in the short story will be a little different from that of the film.
Donate $20 and get all above plus digital original soundtracks we are creating for the dances, plus early access to a behind-the-scenes documentary and you get the chance to ask me any question about the production process. Your question could go into the final behind-the-scenes documentary! Plus a novella, The Eater of Happiness, currently unpublished, steeped in Luo mythology. It’s about a woman who wakes up heavily pregnant, and yet the previous day she was not, and she has to enlist the help of abiba, a character that shits fire, to defeat the evil of her ex-boyfriend. The story of the novella, then, is a bit like this one, hence why I’m throwing it in here.
Donate Any Amount and you’ll get all the rewards closest to it. For example, if you give $15 you get everything in the $20 bracket. If it is $30 or more, you get a bonus short film, The Last Mother, about an android in a dying planet trying to revive the human species. It’s a fine cut, but I’ve never gotten round to finishing it since 2021. I don’t have a trailer, but here are screenshots.
The Team
Who is behind it? I’m Dilman Dila, and you can see my full bio here. I’m a writer and filmmaker, and been making films for a long time, and been recognized in many awards, mostly within Africa. For writing, I’ve caught a few people’s eyes in the international arena, with recognition on the Philip K Dick Awards and the BSFA Awards. I’ll work with the same crew who supported my last few films, Lanyonyo, Fear The Flower, and Little Red Eve. These include cinematographer Okullu Johnson, whose notable credit is Law of Consequences, editor Charlie Kobong, who edited LRE and was director of Law of Consequences, and Producer/Assistant Director Sanyu Sandra, whose film Asiimwe’s Gift, won awards at the regional film awards in Uganda.
The Timeline
We have started the pre-production process. Today, 24th April 2025, I’m meeting with the actress who will lead the film. We shall talk through the choreography needed for the film, and how we can pull it off. For the next one month, until 25th May 2025, I’ll be looking for extra funding to support the production (from people like you!) as well as researching how to pull off some of the visual effects, rehearsals both for dance and for camera, and putting everything in place. We shall shoot the film between 7th June 2025, and I expect to have the final film done by 31st July 2025.
You will start getting your rewards by 25th May, after the campaign ends. Those that I can already ship, I’ll send right away. The rest will come along with the film, by 31st July, apart from the behind-the-scenes documentary, which might take another month or two to get out.
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