A Ugandan girl sees her world rapidly change after being introduced to the game of chess.A Ugandan girl sees her world rapidly change after being introduced to the game of chess.A Ugandan girl sees her world rapidly change after being introduced to the game of chess.
- Awards
- 4 wins & 30 nominations
Taryn Kyaze
- Night
- (as Taryn "Kay" Kyaze)
Esteri Tebandeke
- Sara Katende
- (as Esther Tebandeke)
Minky Ndlovu
- Man on Boda
- (as Nhlahla "Minkey" Ndlovu)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Mira Nair decided to adapt "Queen of Katwe" into a film after making a documentary about the life of the man who trained Phiona Mutesi, Robert Katende.
- GoofsAll the end games of chess shown, but one, are a checkmate, something which hardly ever happens once players have acquired some experience. The one exception is when Phiona resigns a game which is treated as a personal crisis, when in fact it's normal to resign from hopeless positions - especially when playing with the black pieces, for this brings the disadvantage of not making the first move.
Never seen in the movie are any games ending with a draw, which in chess is extremely common.
- Quotes
Robert Katende: [Robert speaking to Phiona] Sometimes the place you are use to... is not the place where you belong
- Crazy creditsJust before the credits, there are short scenes of the major characters with the real people they portrayed. A brief synopsis of what the real people have done since the events of the film and are doing at the time of the film's completion is displayed as well.
- SoundtracksNdi Muna Uganda
Written by Bobi Wine
Performed by Bobi Wine feat. Nubian Lee
Courtesy of Fire Base Records
Featured review
chess for the win
Mira Nair previously focused on Uganda in 1991's "Mississippi Masala" (about an Indian family forced into exile by Idi Amin). "Queen of Katwe" is the true story of Phiona Mutesi, who started playing chess to get out of Kampala's slums. Katwe is the sort of place where you have to bribe people to do even minimal tasks. Lupita Nyong'o plays Phiona's mother, the sort of person who knows the slums all too well and isn't thrilled with her daughter's goal.
One of the most effective scenes is when the Katwe children compete against the students of King's College: the Katwe children wear the traditional Ugandan attire while the rich children wear western clothes, showing the disconnect between the social classes (a scene towards the end of "Mississippi Masala" showed something similar: when the father returns to Uganda, he looks westernized while the Ugandans wear the traditional clothes).
Admittedly, I don't know how accurate the movie is, especially since I had never heard of the story before the movie's release. Nonetheless, it's a powerful, uplifting story. The people involved in this movie deserve ample recognition for their contributions, and I hope that it draws more attention to Phiona Mutesi's achievements.
One of the most effective scenes is when the Katwe children compete against the students of King's College: the Katwe children wear the traditional Ugandan attire while the rich children wear western clothes, showing the disconnect between the social classes (a scene towards the end of "Mississippi Masala" showed something similar: when the father returns to Uganda, he looks westernized while the Ugandans wear the traditional clothes).
Admittedly, I don't know how accurate the movie is, especially since I had never heard of the story before the movie's release. Nonetheless, it's a powerful, uplifting story. The people involved in this movie deserve ample recognition for their contributions, and I hope that it draws more attention to Phiona Mutesi's achievements.
helpful•224
- lee_eisenberg
- Oct 15, 2016
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Nữ Hoàng Cờ Vua
- Filming locations
- Kampala, Uganda(Slums of Katwe)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $15,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $8,874,389
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $304,933
- Sep 25, 2016
- Gross worldwide
- $10,368,126
- Runtime2 hours 4 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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![David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, and Madina Nalwanga in Queen of Katwe (2016)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzQ0MDg2NTY4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTk2NzU3OTE@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)