Uganda and USA / 2016 / 124mins / Biopic, Drama / English and Luganda

Queen of Katwe is based on the vibrant true story of a young girl from the streets of rural Uganda whose world rapidly changes when she is introduced to the game of chess, and, as a result of the support she receives from her family and community, is instilled with the confidence and determination she needs to pursue her dream of becoming an international chess champion.

Mira Nair

Mira Nair is the rare, prolific filmmaker who fluidly moves between Hollywood and independent cinema. After several years of making documentary films, Mira Nair made a stunning entry on the world stage with her first feature, Salaam Bombay! (1988), now hailed as a classic. It was the first Indian film to win the coveted Camera D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988, followed by more than 25 international awards including an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars in 1989. Nair then directed Mississippi Masala (1991), The Perez Family (1995), Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996) and My Own Country (1998). In 2001, Nair’s Monsoon Wedding won the Golen Lion, Venice’s top prize in cinema, becoming one of the highest grossing foreign films of all time. Her film for HBO, Hysterical Blindness (2002), gave Uma Thurman a Golden Globe for the Best Actress, and Emmy Awards for Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands. Nair made Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (2004), followed by the acclaimed adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake (2006), starring the great Irrfan Khan and Tabu. In 2009, she directed the aviation epic, Amelia. In 2012, Mira Nair was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s distinguished honor for work in the arts. In 2012, Nair directed The Reluctant Fundamentalist, a thriller based on the best-selling novel by Mohsin Hamid. It opened the 2012 Venice Film Festival to critical acclaim and was released worldwide in early 2013. Nair's 2016 film Queen of Katwe, a Walt Disney Pictures production, starred Lupita Nyong'o and David Oyelowo and was based on the story of Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi. Learn More