KAMPALA: After a film about a king of Scotland, Ugandans are getting excited over a new movie about a “queen,” starring Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o.

The Hollywood star, born in Mexico to Kenyan parents, jetted into neighboring Uganda a few days ago for her first job in East Africa since taking the 2014 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in “12 Years a Slave.”

“I’m loving the food, I’m loving the people, I’m loving the style,” she said ahead of the start of production for the film “Queen of Katwe.”

“I don’t feel like leaving. People just have an innate style, so I’m taking notes. And I’m really loving working on this film.”

The Disney production, directed by Mira Nair, is a biopic looking at chess coach Robert Katende and his star pupil Phiona Mutesi, who grew up in Kampala’s Katwe slum.

After happening upon chess as a famished nine-year-old, Phiona, now 18, quickly developed a talent for the game and became a national champion, going on to participate in international Olympiads and becoming a Woman Candidate Master (WCM).

Nyong’o is portraying Katende’s wife, Harriet, in the highest profile film project to come to Uganda since the 2006 movie “The Last King of Scotland” about Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, which garnered an Oscar for Forest Whitaker in the title role.

An alumna of Maisha Film Lab, a training initiative for up and coming East African filmmakers founded by Nair, Nyong’o said the movie was an “empowering story about what’s possible if you allow yourself to dream.”