In 1990s Nairobi, two women occupy vastly different worlds. One lives in Korogocho, struggling to provide for her children as a refugee and single mother. The other enjoys the comforts of an affluent suburb, working as an international journalist.
Their paths cross through an employment arrangement, but what develops is an unexpected friendship that challenges the boundaries of class, privilege and compassion.
This is the premise of CALL ME QUEEN, an international film that brings a defining chapter of Kenya’s social history to the screen through the lives of two women whose experiences could hardly be more different.
The film made its Kenyan debut at the 2026 NBO Film Festival at Prestige Cinema, Ngong Road, ahead of its East African theatrical release. Its red-carpet premiere brought together director Emily Atef, German producer Gian Piero Ringel and lead actress Eliane Umuhire, alongside Kenyan actors Nice Githinji, Helen Keli, Peter Kawa, Michelle Tiren and Lwanda Jawar Kotengo.
Directed by award-winning German-born French-Iranian filmmaker Atef, the film stars Rwandan-French actress Umuhire as Queen Achungo and Irish actress Denise Gough as Anna. The international cast also includes Charlie Carrick, Dominic West, Laurent Lafitte and Danny Sapani.
At the centre of the story is Queen, a Rwandan refugee and single mother living in Korogocho. Determined to give her children a better life, she takes a housekeeping job in Anna’s home.
Their relationship begins as one between employer and employee but gradually develops into a friendship that forces both women to confront their assumptions about wealth, race and the value of human life.
Their personal connection takes a more difficult turn when Queen discovers she is HIV-positive. At a time when life-saving medication remains inaccessible to millions, her diagnosis exposes the devastating inequalities surrounding healthcare.
What begins as an individual struggle grows into a wider fight for access to treatment and the right to live with dignity.
Through Queen’s experience, the film explores the intersection of poverty, pharmaceutical patents, race and political responsibility. It also revisits the activism and community resistance that shaped the fight against HIV/AIDS, reminding audiences that access to healthcare has never been simply a medical question.
Atef describes Queen as the film’s undisputed heroine, whose personal struggle reveals an extraordinary capacity for leadership.
“Her strength, humour, fearlessness and innate intelligence is what makes her a born leader,” the director says. “Queen and the people around her take control of their own struggle, and fight for change on their own terms.”
Inspired by true events, the screenplay is based on MERCY, a novel by veteran foreign correspondent Lara Santoro.
Atef developed the screenplay alongside Kenyan-Ghanaian screenwriter Hawa Essuman, German filmmaker Josune Hahnheiser and British writer Jeannine Dominy.
The production also has a significant Kenyan footprint. More than 150 Kenyan cast and crew members contributed to the film, with local actors playing an important role in bringing its Nairobi setting and social realities to life.
The largely female Kenyan cast and crew place local experiences at the heart of a story with international reach.
The Kenyan premiere was therefore more than a red-carpet occasion. It offered an opportunity to recognise the contribution of local film professionals to an international production while revisiting a period whose consequences continue to shape conversations about public health and social justice.
The film also carries a poignant local tribute. CALL ME QUEEN is dedicated to the memory of Appie Matere, the Kenyan film and television producer who collaborated with Ascent Films as a producer on the project before her passing. Her contribution is remembered as part of the film’s legacy.
For East African audiences, the film is being distributed by Crimson Multimedia, with theatrical screenings across Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda having begun on October 30. An online release through YAKWETU followed on November 13.
Trushna Buddhdev-Patel, Managing Director of Crimson Multimedia and co-founder of YAKWETU, says the dual release strategy is intended to reach audiences beyond major cinema centres.
“This film deserves to be watched widely. We have therefore pushed for a release across East Africa’s cinemas, and also online via YAKWETU, where cinemas cannot reach the audience,” she says.