Katwe is the biggest slum in Uganda - but it's also home to a chess champion.
Phiona Mutesi probably wasn't expecting to be the subject of a big screen autobiography when she discovered the game of chess.
She found the board game when following her brother to find food, hearing that the local chess club provided free food for members.
"They used to serve them [the members] a meal, and it was porridge so I decided to follow him [her brother] to get something to eat. That's the way I discovered it," Ms Mutesi told ITV.
Her coach quickly came to learn her hidden talent, and it wasn't long before Ms Mutesi was a Ugandan chess champion.
The newfound fame allowed her to travel the world competing, managing to amass enough money to build her mother a house away from the slums.
But Ms Mutesi's talents didn't just attract the attention of those in the chess world Disney got on board too, and she is now the subject of a new film, Queen of Katwe.
The film stars Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o, who plays Ms Mutesi's mother. Speaking at the world premiere, Nyong'o emphasised how the story was an important one:
"I think it's in telling specific stories that you open the world to the universality that exists everywhere in the world and I think Mira Nair [the director] did that with this film."
Queen of Katwe opened in US cinemas last month. No New Zealand release date has been set.
Newshub.
