Queen of Katwe

Queen of Katwe tells the true story of Phiona Mutesi, a girl growing up in the Katwe slum of Kampala, Uganda. She cannot read or write, and her mother Harriet sells vegetables to keep the family fed and clothed. Phiona's life changes when she meets Robert Katende, a missionary who teaches local children to play chess, and she turns out to have a natural gift for the game. Her progress brings her into competition beyond her neighbourhood, even as her family doubts whether chess can offer a way out of poverty.

Mira Nair directed the film, the eleventh in her feature career, following Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding and The Reluctant Fundamentalist, among others. William Wheeler wrote the screenplay, and Lydia Dean Pilcher and John B. Carls produced it for Mirabai Films and Cine Mosaic. Madina Nalwanga plays Phiona, with David Oyelowo as Robert Katende and Lupita Nyong'o as Harriet; the credited cast numbers twenty, supported by a crew of eighty-two.

Released in September 2016, the drama runs 124 minutes and was made for a budget of fifteen million dollars, earning about ten million worldwide. Audiences have rated it 7.4 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly twenty thousand votes and 7.2 out of 10 on TMDB from about 481 votes. A film critics' rating of 7.4 out of 10 from 187 reviews places it in line with those audience scores.