Spring 2017

Terry George

Director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda, The Promise) on why he's watching Queen of Katwe


A chess win is celebrated in Queen of Katwe (Photo: Everett)

One of the most important functions of film is to take people to places they would never otherwise visit, and allow them to vicariously experience the lives of others. For me, no film in the last year has done that more powerfully than Mira Nair's Queen of Katwe.

Mira tells the story of how a young girl born into the most abject poverty in the vast Ugandan slum of Katwe grows to become that country's national chess champion.

Mira shot the film on location among the tar-paper shacks and muddy back alleys where close to a million people struggle to survive. It's a beautiful work of humanity, with a flood scene that can't be bested by all the CGI in Hollywood. If you haven't already, then show your children this film. It will be one of the most important journeys they'll ever take.

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