Video stars: the booming VJ scene localising Hollywood films for Ugandans

Part-interpreters, part-comedians, video jockeys translate and contextualise western movies for audiences at home

On a recent Saturday afternoon in an informal settlement in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, dozens of young men sat on benches in a dark shack to watch a bootlegged version of the Hollywood comedy-horror film The Monkey.

As the English-language action unfolded on the screen, a voiceover translation in the Bantu language Luganda by VJ Junior, one of Uganda's top video jockeys, boomed into the room.