Rwandan-French actress Eliane Umuhire’s Call Me Queen premieres at Mundi Center in Kigali on Saturday, ahead of its theatrical release across four East African countries later this month.
Umuhire takes the lead role as Queen Achungo, a Rwandan refugee and single mother living in Nairobi during the HIV/AIDS crisis of the late 1990s.
The film follows Queen as she meets Anna, an Irish journalist newly arrived in Nairobi, played by Denise Gough.
Their relationship develops into a friendship as Queen’s personal struggle with HIV draws them into a broader fight over access to life-saving treatment.
The story explores healthcare inequality, poverty, stigma and the difficulties African communities faced in accessing affordable HIV medication at a time when treatment remained beyond the reach of many patients.
Directed by German-born French-Iranian filmmaker Emily Atef, Call Me Queen was adapted from Mercy, a novel by veteran foreign correspondent Lara Santoro. Atef co-wrote the screenplay with Hawa Essuman, Josune Hahnheiser and Jeannine Dominy.
The international cast also includes Dominic West, Laurent Lafitte, Danny Sapani and Charlie Carrick. Kenyan actors Michelle Tiren, Nice Githinji, Lwanda Jawar, Helen Keli, Peter Kawa and Eddie Kimani are also featured in the production.
The 105-minute film was shot in Kenya and involved more than 150 Kenyan cast and crew members, giving the production a significant East African contribution despite bringing together production companies and actors from several countries.
Before arriving in Kigali, Call Me Queen had its African red-carpet premiere at the NBO Film Festival in Nairobi on October 17, where Umuhire joined director Atef, producer Gian-Piero Ringel and members of the Kenyan cast and crew.
The Kigali premiere comes less than a week before the film begins a wider commercial run across East Africa.
From October 30, Call Me Queen is scheduled to screen in cinemas in Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, giving the production access to audiences across four regional markets rather than relying on a single national release.
The theatrical run will then be followed by an online release through YAKWETU from November 13, extending access to audiences who may not be reached through cinemas.
The combination of cinema and digital distribution reflects a growing effort by filmmakers and distributors in the region to reach audiences beyond individual national markets, where limited cinema infrastructure can make theatrical distribution difficult.
For Umuhire, the film adds another international production to a career that has increasingly connected Rwandan talent with films made for audiences beyond the country.
Call Me Queen was produced through an international collaboration involving companies from Europe and Africa, while much of its story, filming and cast remained rooted in East Africa.
Its Kigali premiere gives Rwandan audiences an early opportunity to see the production before its wider regional theatrical release begins next week.
Elie GATETE
RADIOTV10