Sometime in 2015, Lupita Nyong’o’s revealed that she was working on a movie based on the life of Ugandan chess prodigy, Phiona Mutesi. Well, it has been revealed that the film would be titled The Queen of Katwe and it will be released later this year.
Directed by Mira Nair and based on a book by Tim Crothers, the film is backed by Disney Studios.
The movie stars newcomer Madina Nalwanga as Phiona Mutesi, a young girl from the slums of Kampala who chases her dream of becoming an international chess champion. In the movie, Lupita plays the role of Phiona’s mother, and British-Nigerian Hollywood actor David Oyelowo joins the cast to play a missionary who teaches chess to local kids. According to reports the movie was largely shot in Uganda.
Talking more about the film, Lupita said: “It was so great to go back home. I’m from East Africa. I’m from Kenya, which is just next door to Uganda. This is a story about the commitment to a dream even in the most discouraging of situations. The slum of Katwe is a very difficult place to live, but you see these people living there with dignity and making it day by day. And so to go there and to have that environment to work from really did sober us and enliven us.”