Queen of Katwe
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Queen of Katwe |
| Original title | Queen of Katwe |
 | |
| Country of production | USA , South Africa |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2016 |
| length | 124 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Mira Nair |
| script | William Wheeler |
| production |
John B. Carls , Lydia Dean Pilcher |
| music | Alex Heffes |
| camera | Sean Bobbitt |
| cut | Barry Alexander Brown |
| occupation | |
| |
Queen of Katwe is a US - South African biopic by the Indian director Mira Nair and tells the story of Phiona Mutesi from Uganda , who quickly became a professional chess player , and of her appearances at the World Chess Olympiads. The film is based on the book The Chess Girl - The Amazing Way of Phiona Mutesi (original title The Queen of Katwe ) by Tim Crothers . Queen of Katwe was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and ESPN Films and celebrated its world premiere on September 10, 2016 as part of the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival . The film was released in US cinemas on September 23, 2016.
action
Ten-year-old Phiona Mutesi is growing up in the streets of Katwe, one of the most miserable slums in Kampala , the capital of the East African state of Uganda. She lives with her mother Nakku and her three siblings in a very confined space, with rats, dogs and other animals and without electricity or running water. She and her siblings are forced to provide for the family, and they collect the most essential food on the street and rummage through the garbage to make some money. They are illiterate because schooling is hard to think of.
There seems to be no way out of the slum, but then Phiona comes across her saving angel Robert Katende, whom she meets while looking for a bowl of porridge. Katende is a missionary and social worker, and he works for the least privileged children and young people. He tries to make the life of the slum children a little more fulfilling, plays soccer with them and teaches them chess, the game of kings, which they play with figures they have carved themselves. Initially, Phiona struggles to learn the complicated rules, but she has amazing talent and soon beats much more experienced players.
Even if her mother is initially against it, she soon shows her talent first in Sudan and then in Moscow and becomes the hope of Ugandan chess. An amazing career begins that enables Phiona to give her family a better life. Much more important is that Phiona slowly gains self-confidence through her successes. She realizes that life could offer her more than a life in the Kampala slum.
background
Phiona Mutesi
Phiona Mutesi , who was portrayed in the film and was born sometime between 1993 and 1995, grew up in Katwe, a slum on the outskirts of the Ugandan capital Kampala, where she lived with her mother and three siblings in a shabby corrugated iron hut. The family was among the poorest of the poor in Africa, and she and her siblings often went to bed hungry and often slept on the street. When Phiona was three years old, her father died of AIDS , and shortly afterwards her older sister Julia of an unknown cause. Her mother, who was never home, couldn't raise the money for school, so she couldn't read or write.
One day in 2005, when Phiona was around nine years old, she was walking the streets of the slum begging for something to eat. Here she met Robert Katende , a then 28-year-old missionary and chess teacher who worked for the US Charity Sports Outreach Institute. He made her an offer that she would get something to eat if she agreed to receive a chess lesson from him . Phiona agreed and received the promised bowl of posho , a cereal porridge .
From that day on, Phiona walked the four and a half miles from her hut to Katende's Church, where the clergyman provided slum children with a hot meal and taught many of them to play chess. There were just seven chess boards there, and some of the missing pieces had to be replaced with items they found in the trash. Katende quickly recognized her enormous talent and began to promote her in a targeted manner.
At the age of 11 Phiona was able to win the junior championships in her country for the first time and won this title two more times in the following years. At the age of 15 she became the national champion of Uganda and also took part in international competitions. For the first time in a Chess Olympiad took Chess Olympiad in 2010 in the Russian Khanty-Mansiysk part. She played there on the second board of the Ugandan women's national team. She was the only player on her team who wasn't working or studying. With the prize money of 130 pounds she won, she paid her school fees and bought a hair extension. She offered the rest to Katende, who refused and convinced her to buy four mattresses and a four-bunk bed so that Phiona and her family would not have to continue sleeping on tattered mattresses on the floor.
Phiona later said to her biographer Tim Crothers, looking back on her career as a chess professional: “In the beginning, chess was just a bowl of porridge for me.” In the end, however, chess gave her the opportunity to go back to school. Phiona has now not only learned to read and write, but also English. Her next goal is to study and become a doctor. For her sponsor Robert Katende, the success of his talented student is a confirmation of his project: “Chess teaches you to evaluate situations, make decisions, solve problems, see every challenge as an opportunity - and if possible not to give up. The discipline, the patience ... everything that has to do with life can be found in this game. "
Biography and previous short film
The author and sports journalist Tim Crothers published the article Game of her life about Phiona Mutesi in ESPN magazine on January 10, 2011 . A short time later, Crothers published a biography with the title The Queen of Katwe , which told of her childhood and her unexpected career, so that the fate of the exceptional talent could be drawn worldwide and later also in a translation by Liselotte Prugger with the title Das Schachmädchen - The astonishing way of Phiona Mutesi appeared in German. Crothers called Phiona Mutesi an "ultimate underdog". The film rights to the book were later acquired by Disney.
In 2011, the cameraman Keith Furr shot and published the short film The Queen of Katwe - A Short Documentary about Phiona Mutesi . During the filming he was accompanied by Tim Crothers and David Johnson.
production
Staff and cast
The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and ESPN Films . Mira Nair , who was born in India and lives alternately in New York, Delhi and the Ugandan capital Kampala, was directed by Mira Nair , where most of the film was shot. With her debut feature film Salaam Bombay! Nair won the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988 and was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 1989 Academy Awards.
From Kampala Dating Madina Nalwanga debuts in the film in the role of Phiona Mutesi , and Lupita Nyong'o plays her mother Nakku Harriet. Nair's husband, the Ugandan political scientist Mahmood Mamdani , is an old friend of Nyong'o's father, with whom he studied at Makerere University in the late 1960s. David Oyelowo took on the role of Robert Katende , the missionary and chess teacher who became Phiona's promoter and mentor. Ugandan actress Esther Tebandeke took on the role of Sara Katende. Kabanza and Taryn Kyaze, who like Nalwanga also come from Kampala, can be seen in the film in the roles of Phiona Mutesi's eldest siblings Mugabi Brian and Night.
Filming and film music
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Filming began in March 2015 and ended in July 2015. They took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, and in the Ugandan capital Kampala , which, among other things, served as a backdrop for the Katwe slums. The shooting in Uganda was often accompanied by Phiona Mutesi and Robert Katende.
The music for the film was composed by Alex Heffes , who had previously worked on giving the music for the Roots miniseries authentic, African sounds and creating a suitable sound for the individual characters. Alicia Keys , Carlo Montagnese and Billy Walsh wrote the song Back To Life for the soundtrack , which is sung by Keys. The song begins as a piano ballad with a few strings , then becomes a high-paced pop song and tells of how we should push the little voice in our head that makes us doubt aside and instead electrify the world . The song was pre-released as a single on September 1, 2016, the entire soundtrack to the film on September 23, 2016.
Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter already considered Heffes' work to be Oscar-worthy before the premiere of the film, although only a few passages of the film music were known at the time. In December 2016, Heffes' soundtrack was included in the list of candidates (longlist) from which the members of the academy will determine the official nominations at the 2017 Academy Awards in the category Best Film Music . The song Back To Life featured on the soundtrack and sung by Alicia Keys was included in the longlist for Best Film Song .
publication
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The film celebrated its world premiere on September 10 at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in US cinemas on September 23, 2016. The film celebrated its European premiere on October 9, 2016 at the London Film Festival . The film was officially released in the UK on October 21, 2016 and in German cinemas on April 20, 2017.
reception
Age rating
In Germany, the film was approved by the FSK without any age restriction. The statement of reasons for approval states: “The film focuses on its clever and self-confident young protagonist and her positive adult environment, emphasizing values such as family cohesion, reliability and solidarity. He also describes the difficult social conditions, but without depicting them too drastically. [...] Due to the positive atmosphere and the strong main character, children of preschool age already find sufficient emotional support and can process the film without impairment. "
Reviews
The film was 92 percent of critics at Rotten Tomatoes convince, putting it in the top 100 of the best here rated movies of the year 2016. In addition, the film went from the 18th Annual Golden Tomato Awards in the category Best Kids / Family Movie 2016 as Runner-up.
Rüdiger Suchsland from SWR2 says that Queen of Katwe is a story that, in principle, reminds one of the fairy tales from One Thousand and One Nights , but was written by life. Disney presents a heroine who resembles Snow White , Cinderella or Bambi and sets a positive example that corresponds completely to the company's well-known arch-conservative canon of values, is smart, morally clean, free from drugs and unpleasant properties, and thus almost too good to be real to be. The film is politically overly correct, but also a bit boring, said Suchsland.
Even if Nair might have done a little too much to make the film pleasing to a large audience, according to Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter , the director shows a strong affection for the characters. The film is to a large extent a homage to the mother's willingness to make sacrifices and devotion. Linden's colleague Scott Feinberg recognized the film as a potential Oscar candidate and Lupita Nyong'o as a candidate in the Best Supporting Actress category .
Gross profit
The worldwide revenue of the film is currently 8.7 million US dollars (as of November 30, 2016).
Awards
Critics' Choice Movie Awards 2016 (December)
- Nomination for Best Young Actress ( Madina Nalwanga )
London Critics' Circle Film Awards 2017
- Nomination for Best British Actor ( David Oyelowo , also for A United Kingdom )
- Nomination for Best Actress (Madina Nalwanga)
- Nomination for Best Supporting Actor (David Oyelowo)
- Nomination for Best Supporting Actress ( Lupita Nyong'o )
Web links
- Queen of Katwe in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Alicia Keys, Songwriting for Queen of Katwe by The Hollywood Reporter (Video, English)
- Official website of the Queen of Katwe chess project
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Queen of Katwe . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 166011 / K).
- ↑ a b c d e Katja Mitic-Pigorsch: Ugandan illiterate becomes chess master In: DIE WELT, December 25, 2012.
- ↑ a b c Xan Rice: Ugandan girl, Phiona Mutesi leads chess revolution from the slums In: The Guardian, February 18, 2011.
- ↑ She experienced childhood in one of the poorest regions In: ww2documentaryblog.wordpress.com, April 1, 2016.
- ↑ a b The chess girl - The amazing path of Phiona Mutesi In: randomhouse.de. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
- ↑ Tim Crothers: Game of her life In: espn.com. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
- ↑ Josh Levs: From slum life to Disney film: Ugandan teen chess star 'the ultimate underdog' In: edition.cnn.com. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
- ↑ Phiona Mutesi, Ugandan Teen, Goes From Slum To International Chess Stardom In: The Huffington Post, December 11, 2012.
- ^ The Queen of Katwe - A Short Documentary about Phiona Mutesi In: allafrica.com. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
- ↑ Phiona Mutesi In: queenofkatwe.com. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
- ↑ The Queen of Katwe In: espn.com. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
- ↑ Zach Johnson: Lupita Nyong'o, David Oyelowo and Madina Nalwanga Bring Chess Prodigy's Inspirational Story to Life in 'Queen of Katwe' Trailer In: May 10, 2016.
- ↑ https://www.vogue.com/article/lupita-nyongo-october-cover-village-kenya-africa-queen-of-katwe
- ↑ a b Sheri Linden: 'Queen of Katwe': Film Review In: The Hollywood Reporter, September 10, 2016.
- ↑ Devan Coggan: Lupita Nyong'o: Queen of Katwe script made her cry In: Entertainment Weekly, July 12, 2016.
- ↑ Alex Heffes to Score Mira Nair's 'Queen of Katwe' In: filmmusicreporter.com, January 18, 2016.
- ↑ Daniel Schweiger: Interview with Alex Heffes In: filmmusicmag.com, May 24, 2016.
- ↑ Liz Calvario: Listen to Alicia Keys Sing the Ballad She Wrote for Queen of Katwe ' In: indiewire.com, September 3, 2016.
- ↑ a b Scott Feinberg: Feinberg Forecast: The First Look at the 89th Oscar Race In: The Hollywood Reporter, September 9, 2016.
- ↑ 145 Original Scores In 2016 Oscar Race In: oscars.org, December 13, 2016.
- ↑ 91 Original Songs Vie for 2016 Oscar In: oscars.org, December 13, 2016.
- ↑ Leo Barraclough: Lupita Nyong'o's 'Queen of Katwe' to Make European Debut at London Film Festival In: Variety, July 13, 2016.
- ↑ The 60th BFI London Film Festival to present the European Premiere of Queen of Katwe In: bfi.org.uk. Accessed August 11, 2016 (PDF; 605 KB)
- ↑ Start dates Germany In: insidekino.com. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
- ^ Reason for release for Queen of Katwe In: Voluntary self-control of the film industry. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
- ↑ Queen of Katwe In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
- ↑ Top 100 Movies of 2016 In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ↑ Eliza Berman: These Movies Were All Certified Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes in 2016 In: time.com, December 21, 2016.
- ↑ Best-reviewed Kids / Family Movies 2016 In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
- ^ Rüdiger Suchsland: The true story of Phiona Mutesi from Uganda In: swr.de, April 18, 2017.
- ↑ Queen of Katwe In: boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
- ↑ Gregg Kilday: 'La La Land,' 'Arrival,' 'Moonlight' Top Critics' Choice Nominations In: The Hollywood Reporter, December 1, 2016.
- ↑ Nancy Tartaglione: 'Moonlight', 'Love & Friendship' Lead London Critics' Circle Nominations In: deadline.com, December 20, 2016.
- ↑ Ruth Kinane: Beyoncé leads the pack of 2017 NAACP Image Awards nominees In: Entertainment Weekly, December 13, 2016.