Young Ugandan actress, Madina Nalwanga, one of the lead actresses in Disney’s movie, “Queen of Katwe” has been nominated in the 2017 Critic’s Choice Awards.
Nalwanga is the first Ugandan young actress to be nominated for these Awards.
In the movie, “The Queen of Katwe” she plays as an adolescent Ugandan girl who becomes the nation’s first female chess champion at the age of 15, Phiona Mutesi.
She was nominated in the category of Best Young Actor/Actress alongside Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea), Alex R. Hibbert (Moonlight), Lewis MacDougall (A Monster Calls), Sunny Pawar (Lion) and Hailee Steinfeld (The Edge of Seventeen).
Lupita Nyongo who acts as Phiona’s mother in the movie “Queen Of Katwe” congratulated the young Ugandan star upon her nominations on her Facebook page in a post that read, “My darling on-screen daughter, Madina Nalwanga just got nominated for a Critic’s Choice Awards for best young actor/ actress for her role in Queen of Katwe!!!!! Her very first nomination! Congratulations my love.#queening#Madina Nalwanga”
Nalwanga’s nominations means a lot to Uganda’s movie industry since it will act as a way of marketing Ugandan actors and actresses on the global market.
Patrick Ssenjovu a Ugandan film director and producer told Sqoop that Nalwanga’s nomination for the Critic’s Choice Awards should act as an inspiration to all the young actors and actresses in Uganda.
“Nalwanga’s nomination for the Critic’s Choice Awards should act as a ray of hope to Ugandan actors and actresses, as Ugandan’s we are proud of her,” he said.
The Critics’ Choice Awards are bestowed annually to honour the finest in cinematic and television achievement.
They are organised by the largest film critics’ organisation in the United States and Canada, Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and Broad Television Journalists Association (BTJA) representing more than 300 television, radio and online critics.
Historically, the Critics’ Choice Awards are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations.
This recent nomination is the 22nd Critics’ Choice Awards.