KAMPALA, Uganda — Ugandan conservation storyteller and filmmaker Jonathan Benaiah has won first place at the prestigious WildPitch Kenya 2026 competition with Musambwa, a documentary project exploring the intersection of spirituality, snake conservation, and indigenous knowledge on Uganda’s famed Musambwa Island in Lake Victoria.
Benaiah emerged victorious from a field of six finalists drawn from across Africa during the Wildscreen Festival Kenya, held in Nairobi from June 11 to 12. His winning project secured development funding to support further research and production of the documentary.
According to festival organizers, Musambwa tells the story of two Ugandan elders whose lives have been profoundly shaped by their relationship with snakes. One serves as a custodian of sacred cobras on Musambwa Island, where local communities believe the reptiles embody ancestral spirits, while the other grapples with the trauma of surviving two near-fatal snakebite incidents on the mainland.
The documentary stood out for its unique blending of conservation, culture, and indigenous belief systems, themes that are increasingly gaining attention within global natural history storytelling.
The Wildscreen Festival Kenya brought together more than 200 filmmakers, conservationists, broadcasters, and industry leaders from across Africa and beyond to discuss opportunities and challenges in wildlife and environmental filmmaking. The festival featured screenings, masterclasses, networking sessions, and the flagship WildPitch competition, where filmmakers presented documentary concepts before an international jury.
A report by TNX Africa noted that Benaiah’s project was selected as the overall winner during the live pitching session, ahead of entries from Tanzania and Kenya, with winners receiving development and commissioning support to help advance their productions.
The recognition marks another milestone for Benaiah, whose work focuses on conservation storytelling and the relationship between people and the natural world. The Ugandan filmmaker previously directed Sempa: The Lost Chimpanzees of Kyambura, a short conservation film that received international festival selections and awards.
Wildscreen, a UK-based conservation charity founded in 1987, has expanded its African presence in recent years through annual festivals aimed at promoting African voices in natural history filmmaking and creating opportunities for local storytellers to tell their own environmental narratives.
For Uganda’s growing film industry, Benaiah’s victory represents another sign of the country’s increasing visibility on the international documentary scene, particularly in the areas of conservation, culture, and indigenous storytelling.
