January 21, 2021
2016, directed by Mira Nair
Finding a film set in Africa that wasn’t about war or apartheid was a bit of a challenge. I remembered seeing posters for this movie outside the (since demolished) AMC multiplex outside Disneyland in 2016, but I didn’t really know what it was about. It was only when I was looking at Mira Nair’s filmography for a possible Indian film selection that I realized she directed this too. And, only after researching the true story it’s based on did I discover that the film’s subject (chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi) was attending college near Seattle. Had the Rainier Club reopened by this time, we might’ve had her come and speak.