Mutiganda Wa Nkunda

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Mutiganda wa Nkunda (born 18 October 1989) is a Rwandan director, writer and producer. He was born in Kigali, Rwanda.

In 2012, while still a student, four of his screenplays were shortlisted in a global writing contest. He finished a bachelor's degree in Agriculture in 2013 and began working as a film critic and journalist.

His first short film, Rayila (2014), was written, produced and directed by him. It tells the story of a teenage mother who was raped by her stepfather and infected with HIV. The film won awards at several festivals and is available on YouTube. Also in 2014, he created and wrote the popular sitcom Inshuti, which aired on TV 10 Rwanda from 2014 to 2015 and later on YouTube, where it gained fans.

In 2015, wa Nkunda produced the short film Ishaba at a Mashariki African Film Festival workshop; it screened at international festivals and was released on DVD by Africalia. He attended the Maisha Film Lab screenwriting workshop in Kigali, where he developed the comedy series Seburikoko, which premiered on Rwanda Television in March 2015. He also directed an experimental short, La Femme Nue, selected for the Mashariki African Film Festival.

After leaving journalism in 2016, he focused on filmmaking full-time. He directed the TV series City Maid for Rwanda Television and wrote the series Virunga School for Royal TV. He wrote, produced and directed his second short film, Ibanga ry’umunezero, in 2017.

That year he co-founded the independent production company IZACU with Yuhi Amuli. Under IZACU, he self-funded his first feature film, Nameless, which was pitched at the Takmil workshop at the 2018 Carthage Film Festival and was acquired by Orange Studio. Nameless premiered at the 2021 Fribourg Film Festival and competed in the main competition at FESPACO 2021, where it won Best Screenplay.

In 2020 he produced A Taste of Our Land, directed by Yuhi Amuli. The film won Best First Feature Narrative at the PanAfrican Film Festival (2020) and Best First Feature Film by a Director at the Africa Movie Academy Awards, and also earned Michael Wawuyo a Best Actor Award at the Festival du Cinéma Africain de Khouribga.