Cindy Evelyn Magara (PhD) is a Lecturer in film and literature at Makerere University in Uganda.She is also a filmmaker with Nyati Motion Pictures. She is passionate about film.As such, her Master’s degree and Doctoral research projects were on African Cinema: Symbolism in Ugandan Film from Makerere University, Uganda, and Contemporary East African Cinema: Emergent Themes and Aesthetics from The University of Sydney, Australia), respectively.Her film oeuvre includes three feature titles and two documentary films: Windows of Hope(2011), Fair Play(2009) and Fate(2006), A Book for Every Child(2013), and Tuko Pamoja(2024).Dr Magara is a prolific filmmaker and academic keen on cultural studies.She not only wrote and directed Uganda’s first independent film, Fate 2006(which was the first to show at Cineplex Cinemas and the first show on DSTV Africa Magic).She has also worked as a juror at various festivals and competitions, with the notable ones being: chief juror for Pearl International Film Festivals, Uganda, from 2008 to 2017 and Juror member in 2024; she is a member of the Oscars’ Selection committee for Best Foreign Language / International Film Category for Uganda since 2019 to date and juror member for the Uganda Film Festival, 2022 and 2023. She is currently developing a live - action series(Uganda’s ‘Game of Thrones’) about the kings of Uganda, with Kabaleega as the protagonist, at the coming of the British colonialists into East Africa, titled “Conquer or Die”.