First Look. Lupita Nyong’o in ‘The Queen of Katwe.’

Lupita Nyong'o Queen of Katwe

Lupita Nyong’o was doing some major double duty in 2015. Last spring, the 12 Years a Slave and Star Wars:The Force Awakens star shared on-set snapshots from Uganda, alongside filmmaker Mira Nair.

Nair, who is best known for The Namesake and Monsoon Wedding, among an impressive list of film credits and accolades, is directing Nyong’o in her upcoming production The Queen of Katwe. The upcoming film, which tells the story of Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi, is based on the book The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster. Mutesi was also the subject of a documentary with the same name. Nyong’o will be playing Harriet Mutesi, Phiona’s mother.


Entertainment Weekly
recently shared a first-look image featuring Nyong’o from the film, via Disney Pictures.

“This is a story about the commitment to a dream even in the most discouraging of situations,” says Nyong’o. “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.”