Queen of Katwe (2016) on Netflix
PG20162h 4mBiographyDramaSport
Ten-year-old Phiona Mutesi sells maize with her mother, Nakku Harriet, in the Katwe slum of Kampala. She meets Robert Katende at a missionary program, learns chess and joins his group.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.4/1020,269 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes94%
Trailer
Plot summary
Phiona Mutesi is ten and lives in Katwe, a slum in Kampala, Uganda, with her mother, Nakku Harriet, and her younger siblings. Phiona and her younger brother sell maize with their mother at the market, and Phiona also helps care for her baby brother. One day, at a missionary program, she meets Robert Katende, who gives soccer coaching and chess lessons to children at a local center. Phiona is curious, so she approaches and learns the game, then becomes a top player in his group.
Cast
- Madina Nalwangaas Phiona Mutesi
- Martin Kabanzaas Mugabi Brian
- Taryn "Kay" Kyazeas Margaret Night Nantongo
- Esther Tebandekeas Sara Katende
- Ethan Nazario Lubegaas Benjamin
- Nikita Waligwaas Gloria
- Ronald Ssemagandaas Ivan
- Peter Odekeas Enoch Barumba
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Queen of Katwe (2016)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Mira Nair said casting Phiona was the hardest task: the search ran from July to December 2014 and nearly 700 girls auditioned. The casting director spotted Madina Nalwanga, a 15-year-old Ugandan dancer, in a community dance class.
- Robert Katende, the real coach, was present at the shoot and designed the chess games, and the chess scenes were complicated because the call sheet contained actual chess moves.
- To ease Disney's worries about a film set entirely in Africa, Mira Nair shot a high-concept short and presented it to the studio.
- More than a hundred Ugandans were hired as extras for the street scenes of the Kampala shoot, eighty of them with no prior experience with cameras, and Nair set up an acting boot camp for the children.
