Lupita’s Ugandan movie pics released

Actress Lupita Nyong'o attends the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party .

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images/AFP

Disney has unveiled the first images from The Queen of Katwe, the biographical drama about a Ugandan chess prodigy starring Lupita Nyong’o, David Oyelowo, and newcomer Madina Nalwanga.

Directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) and based on Tim Crothers’ book (expanded from an ESPN the Magazine article), the film stars Nalwanga as Phiona Mutsei, a young girl from the slums of Kampala who chases her dream of becoming an international chess champion.

Nyong’o plays Phiona’s mother, and Oyelowo plays a missionary who teaches chess to local kids.

Mainly shot on location in Uganda, The Queen of Katwe served as a homecoming of sorts for Nyong’o.

“It was so great to go back home. I’m from East Africa. I’m from Kenya, which is just next door to Uganda,” she said.

The Queen of Katwe is scheduled to be released in April.