Ugandan Athlete-Turned-Politician Julius Achon Gets Biopic ‘The Boy Who Runs’, Directed by C.J. Obasi and Co-Written with Kenya’s Kirimi Kiage and Teddy Gitau

The Boy Who Runs, a biopic based on the life of Ugandan middle-distance runner Julius Achon, is currently in the works, with Nigerian filmmaker C.J. Obasi (Mami Wata) set to produce, direct and co-write.

First reported by Deadline, the film is based on the book The Boy Who Runs: The Odyssey of Julius Achon by John Brant. According to Deadline, it follows Achon’s journey from northern Uganda, where he was abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army, an extremist organisation operating in Central and East Africa, to his rise as a national champion and NCAA athlete at George Mason University, and his later years inside the elite American running world of Nike in Oregon.

Achon currently serves as a Member of the Ugandan Parliament, representing Otuke County in Northern Uganda.

Obasi is co-writing The Boy Who Runs alongside Kenya’s Kirimi Kiage and Teddy Gitau, both best known for the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF)-winning feature Kileo. Zimbabwean filmmaker Kudi Maradzika, known for Netflix’s South African crime drama Bad Influencer, is attached as executive producer, while Ghana’s Mortinno Morton (Unplugged) serves as co-producer.

Swiss-based studio 9 NIGHTS is producing in association with Obasi’s production company, Fiery Film.

Obasi’s 2023 film Mami Wata premiered at Sundance, where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Cinematography Award. Among other accolades, the film was also selected as Nigeria’s submission for Best International Feature at the 2024 Oscars, although it was not shortlisted.

Besides The Boy Who Runs, Obasi’s upcoming projects include the feature La Pyramide, which he described in a previous interview with Sinema Focus as “a diaspora, cross-continental, multi-cultural mystical voyage.” La Pyramide, which participated in the Works-in-Progress strand at the Red Sea Souk Project Market in 2025, stars American-Ugandan actor Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine and Brazilian singer and actress Nara Couto.

Obasi is also currently filming A Blue Butterfly, a psychological drama starring Steve Toussaint (House of the Dragon) and Sanaa Lathan (The Affair). The film is being shot in London and Rwanda, where Obasi currently resides with his wife and producing partner, Oge Obasi.

Recently announced, the Nigerian animated series Juju Soccer, directed and co-produced by Obasi alongside Somto Ajuluchukwu, heads to Durban FilmMart (DFM) 2026, set to take place from 9 to 12 October in Durban, South Africa.

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