Oscar winning Kenyan actress Lupita Nyongó will be in Kampala this March to star in the Queen of Katwe movie.
The film is based on the true story about the rise of a young Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi.
Hollywood director Mira Nair behind movies like The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Vanity Fair and Mississippi Masala will direct the movie.
Mira Nair is wife to Makerere University don Prof. Mahmood Mamdani.
Queen Of Katwe is based on Tim Crothers’ 2011 ESPN The Magazine article and subsequent book The Queen Of Katwe: A Story Of Life, Chess, And One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream Of Becoming A Grandmaster. It tells the story of Phiona Mutesi, who emerged out of the Katwe slum in Uganda, to reach the World Chess Olympiad.
Lupita will play Harriet Mutesi, Phiona’s young mother.
The movie will be shot in Uganda and South Africa, starting in March.