Ugandan actress, Rachael Nduhukire and a student at Victoria University has emerged winner of the inaugural Africa Monologue Challenge which took place in Accra, Ghana.
Nduhukire, 20, who is best known for portraying Melisa Kirunda in the popular Sanyu series has also acted in movies like Journey to Jamaa, I Found My Way, and Family series.
The Africa Monologue Challenge is an initiative of MK Casting, Ghana’s premier casting company in collaboration with the African Chamber of Content Producers and the National Film Authority of Ghana.
The challenge is designed to match the standard of performances in Hollywood with existing or emerging African talents and position them strategically for global roles as well as ensure that actors and actresses in Africa are visible to casting directors, producers, and directors globally.
The competition involved participants from various African countries and the diaspora delivering monologues on different themes such as culture, unity and identity. After over 400 entries, 50 finalists were shortlisted and after ten months of a keenly contested competition that witnessed some of the best monologues across the continent, 10 finalists were selected to compete in the final event.
These included participants from countries; Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Ghana, South Africa, Cameroon, Tanzania and United Kingdom who were subjected to public voting which constituted 30 per cent of the contestant’s total score for the challenge.
The remaining 70 per cent was based by the contestant’s monologue performance vetted by a panel of nine judges made up of renowned filmmakers from across the continent and internationally.
The final tally revealed Nduhukire as the overall winner with 25,179 votes (31.83 per cent) with Zambia’s Jeromy Mumba as first runner-up with 30 per cent and South Africa’s Refilwe Maitisa as second runner-up with 11.57 per cent of the vote.
As the winner, Nduhukire walked away with a cash prize of $1,000, a paid lead role in a short film to be submitted to all major film festivals globally and distributed on major streaming platforms, headshots by a top photographer, face of Africa Monologue Challenge for a year, a certificate of recognition signed by all the judges. Additionally, Uganda also gets to host the next edition of the challenge.