When she won her first Oscar, news surfaced that Lupita Nyong’o had undergone some acting stints in Kampala a few years back.
And, well, looks like Lupita is not the kind that forgets where she came from. The latest on our desk is that, the 12 Years A Slave movie star will be taking up a major role in a new movie about Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi.
Lupita’s choice is not shocking considering that the movie will be made by revered director Mira Nair. For those that are not keen with the Ugandan movie industry, Mira is the founder of the Maisha Film Labs, a Uganda-based film training initiative.
Mira who lives in Uganda and the US, is the brain behind several movies that also include award-winning 1991 film, Mississipi Masala which starred Denzel Washington.
To sum it up for you, Mira is the wife of scholar and respected Makerere University professor, Mahmood Mamdani.
The movie is based on Tim Crothers’ book Queen of Katwe, which is the movie’s working title.
Queen of Katwe, is about Mutesi’s story; a story of life, chess, and one extraordinary girl’s dream of becoming a grandmaster. Mutesi has also been the subject of short documentaries and news reports, capturing her inspiring story.
Although she just got Lupita’s word, Mira is said to have hinted on this very project over a year ago in an interview with Newsweek Pakistan.
Mira said that the project will be set up in Disney, but she didn’t not divulge on how long it will take in production and when it would be coming out.
Well, we smell another award winning movie already.
