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The Disney movie, "Queen of Katwe", is based on the life of
Phiona Mutesi who turned up at a sports outreach program in
Katwe in Kampala for a cup of porridge aged about nine in around
2005 and was drawn into a world of knights and checkmates.
Now Uganda's No. 3 female chess player according to the World
Chess Federation, Mutesi is hailed an inspiration to many girls
for managing to escape the life of poverty she was leading on
the streets with her mother after her father died of AIDS.
Uganda is one of the poorest countries in the world with 2014
government figures showing nearly 20 percent of the 38 million
population lives in poverty. UNICEF data shows 24 percent of
Ugandan children under five live in extreme poverty.
The movie, to be shown on Oct. 9 after opening in the United
State in September, stars newcomer Madina Nalwanga as Mutesi,
Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o as her mother, and David
Oyelowo as her chess teacher, a soccer player turned missionary.
Oyelowo, who played Martin Luther King Jr in "Selma", praised
the film for illustrating a good side of the impoverished east
African country.
"Africa is teeming with amazing people who in spite of their, at
times, difficult lives, manage to remain full of joy and hope,"
Oyelowo said in a statement.
"This is a story where the impossible is made possible through
family, mentorship, encouragement, hard work, and faith, all
things we can aspire to."
The film is based on a 2012 book about Mutesi who used the money
she received from film rights to buy land for her family and to
continue her studies, aiming to become a paediatrician,
according to online chess community chessgames.com.
Mutesi, who spoke at the Women of the World Summit in New York
in 2013 about the obstacles she had overcome, held the first
ever all-girls chess clinic in Uganda with more than 400 girls
showing up to the clinic.
But the girls weren't only taught chess but also learned about
delaying marriage and children until after they finished school
and started their careers, according to her website.
Uganda has one of the world's highest rates of pre-teen and
teenage pregnancies with one in every four girls aged between 15
and 19 getting pregnant, according to the Bureau of Statistics,
and nearly half of girls married before 18.
The BFI London Film Festival, which celebrates its 60th
anniversary this year, is Britain's largest film festival that
showcases new British and international films.
(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith @BeeGoldsmith; Please credit the
Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson
Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights,
trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
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