Kizito Samuel Saviour is a Film & Video Production Tutor at ESOM School Of Music in Uganda and a Film & Television Studies Mentor at the University of Limpopo in South Africa and to a number of upcoming filmmakers and actors in Uganda and Africa at large.
He has worked as a Director, Writer, Producer, Cinematographer and Editor on films like; Catch Out (2021), KEMI (2020), Judas Kiss (2019), The Forbidden (2018), Extra Time (2017) and Bunjako (2016) among others that have earned over 120 international nominations and over 25 international awards from film festivals and film awarding platforms from all-over the world.
He is the founder of the Uganda Academy Selection Committee (UASC) approved by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' International Feature Film Award Executive Board (The Oscars).
He is also the founder of Kyooto (Kyooto Media Group), a registered multifaceted full-service entertainment and media production company based in Kampala, Uganda that specializes in producing audio-visual content in various dimensions for Film, TV, Online and other platforms as well as using film to rehabilitate and promote talent development.
He has facilitated film directing workshops at The African Film Festival - TAFF USA and Accra Indie Film Fest where he also works as a board member of the jury, and has mentored various filmmakers globally throughout his career.
In December 2021, he was selected to be among the Evaluators/Judges of the 2022 Netflix - UNESCO African Folktales Reimagined Short Film Competition.
By November 2021, he was appointed and invited to speak as a panelist of the discussion "The Conversation: Monetizing Digital Content" at the second Intra-African Trade Fair organized by RX Africa on behalf of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in collaboration with the African Union and the AfCFTA Secretariat from 15-21 November 2021 at the Durban International Convention Centre (ICC) in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.
In mid 2021, he was nominated as Entertainment Founder of the Year at the Kenyan based Founder Of The Year Awards (FOYA) 2021 where he made it to the final 3 nominees of the category.
From 1st March 2019 through Kyooto he launched a mentor-ship program aimed at nurturing young talents into the skills of Script Writing, Acting and Directing among other departments as a route for them to join the Ugandan Film Industry as experienced and trained individuals, the program was facilitated by the founder himself throughout March, April, May and June, the participants were able to make 4 short films (Fidelity, Esteem, Equanimity and Demented) which received their Red-Carpet Premiere on Tuesday 30th July 2019 at the Uganda National Cultural Centre's National Theatre of Uganda where they screened to a crowd of film lovers that filled up the 376 seater-auditorium to capacity.
All the short films have scooped selections and nominations at various film festivals in Ghana; Accra Independent Film Festival and NDIVA Women's Film Festival: Tanzania; African Woman Film Festival -AWAFFEST, IamAfrica Short Film Festival, The African Film Festival - TAFF and Uganda Film Festival among others.
Thereafter, through August, September and October, the same participants proceeded onto another journey of making their first full length feature film (74 minutes full movie) titled Judas Kiss which premiered on Sunday 17th November 2019 at National Theatre and got its first official selection at TAFF in February 2020 and nominations at Uganda Film Festival 2021.
He is known for being the director of The Forbidden his second feature film released in 2018 that went on to become the most nominated and awarded Ugandan film in the history of Ugandan Cinema.
Born and raised in Kampala, Uganda, February 22nd 1994, he began his career as an actor, publicist and blogger and graduated to screenwriting, producing and directing within the years 2014, 2015 and 2016.
He has worked with several companies as a screenwriter, producer, director, film consultant, production assistant, sound recordist, cinematographer, editor and more.
He started as an actor when he joined an acting group/ company in Uganda "Sky Limited Entertainment" in late 2013 from where he acquired beginner skills of screenwriting hence graduating into a screenwriter.
Having been an online marketer and commercial publicist before, he was introduced to the film-making world when he joined the National Theatre based Film Club Uganda in the year 2014 from which he operated as a general Public Relations personnel and publicist.
During his early times at Film Club Uganda, he was cast in a cameo role in the award winning Ugandan movie "WAKO" of Zaron Motion Pictures and being a screenplay writer, he wrote a number of screenplays most of which were produced by Havy Media including short films "Desk Review" and "Wande" in the year 2015, he later worked as a sound recordist for a short film "Mulalama" By Nathan Yueh and its still during this time that he joined The Ghetto Film Project, an organization that mentors ghetto kids into film and from here he acquired more filmmaking knowledge and mentor-ship then was cast in its two short films "Crafts: Value of Life" and "Silent Depression".
In early 2015 he opened up a Ugandan film themed blog-site samuelsaviour.wordpress.com a blog that was commonly known as a source for Ugandan cinema updates and it's through this blog that he attained a role of "Film Critic" in the film industry, he also started working on a feature film project titled "Abagoba Ebirooto - The Dream Chasers" as a producer but the film is not yet released up-to date.
Through the year 2015, he co-founded an online film news channel Cinebuzz Uganda where he worked as the news show writer, editor and director.
By late 2015 he embarked onto another project as a writer and director of the feature horror film titled "Bunjako" which happened to be his first directorial debut that was produced by Teez Studios Limited.
Through the year 2016, he produced a short film titled "Pregnant Woman Stabs Husband Dead" directed by Malcolm Bigyemano that was nominated in the Best Short Film Category of Uganda Film Festival 2016.
Still in the year 2016, he wrote a feature film "In The Neighborhood that was produced by Havy Media, this premiered in mid-2016.
In the year 2017, he embarked on another journey as a director where he co-wrote and co-directed a feature film "Extra Time" being done as a tribute film to one legendary Ugandan film actor Mzee Yasin Lubowa, this was followed by another feature film he co-wrote and directed titled "The Forbidden" produced by the Red Pictures Production Company. He also produced a feature documentary film "Boxinema", edited a short film "Virtuality" and a documentary film "Kampala Express "
Still in the year 2017, he directed and edited a short film "April Baby " by LEPA Africa Production Company.
Late 2017 he was hired to feature in a cameo recurring role in 27 Guns a biopic Ugandan movie where he featured as Stanley Muhangi, one of the 41 liberation war freedom fighters, its from here that he attained military skills.
Whilst at the 27 Guns set, he was hired to work on NBS TV's Cinema Blitz show where he worked as the show script writer, sound recordist, camera operator, editor and director through late 2017 and early 2018.
In the year 2018, he went to Gulu where he worked on a collaboration film project with Gulu Filmmakers on two short films "Shame Of Puberty" as a Cinematographer and Editor, and "Save A Mother" as an Editor, Shame Of Puberty has scooped awards and nominations in Uganda, Ghana, United Kingdom, Nepal and other territories.
In 2019, he embarked on making an indigenous film KEMI that had its domestic theatrical run in western Uganda in 2020 before the pandemic and later he was hired by Zzinga Yaffe to work as a director on a docudrama "Struggling Faces" telling stories of young girls suffering on the Ssese Islands on Lake Victoria, Kalangala District.
