Kenya-Set Feature ‘Call Me Queen’ Tackles the 1990s AIDS Crisis with Local and International Cast, Now in Post-Production

Kenya-set feature Call Me Queen, from German-born French-Iranian filmmaker Emily Atef, is now in post-production.

Adapted from Lara Santoro’s 2007 novel Mercy, the story follows a friendship between an Irish journalist in Kenya and a Rwandan woman who join forces to confront the AIDS crisis in the 1990s.

Quinta (Queen) is a single mother from Rwanda living in Nairobi’s slums whose life is turned upside down when she is diagnosed with HIV. Confronted with the plight of poor Kenyans facing corporate greed and denial of treatment, Queen teams up with Anna, an Irish journalist based in Nairobi, to challenge powerful forces at the heart of the crisis – from pharmaceutical companies to the corrupt government.

The screenplay was written by Atef together with Kenyan-Ghanaian filmmaker Hawa Essuman (Soul Boy, co-founder of Manyatta Screenings), Jeannine Dominy (Dangerous Beauty) and Josune Hahnheiser (Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything).

Taking on the role of Queen is French-Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire, known for Baloji’s Omen and for the apocalyptic horror A Quiet Place: Day One, which also stars Lupita Nyong’o. Denise Gough (Andor, Too Close) plays Anna, with Dominic West (The Crown, The Wire), Danny Sapani (The Diplomat, Killing Eve), Charlie Carrick (Deep Water, The Apprentice), and Laurent Lafitte (The Takedown, Class Act) rounding out the international cast.

The Kenyan cast includes Nice Githinji (Subterranea, The Caller), Michelle Tiren (Nawi, Volume), Lwanda Jawar (Pepeta, Sense8), Gerald Langiri (Nafsi, 40 Sticks), Alan Oyugi (Lusala, Where the River Divides), and Edwin Ekirapa (Monkey Business, Cheza).

Director Atef is known for More Than Ever (2022), which premiered in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, and Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything (2023), a Berlin Golden Bear nominee. Call Me Queen is her English-language debut.

In an exclusive with Screen Daily after wrapping filming in Nairobi in May, Atef described the film as “a cinematic celebration of empowerment and the strength found in community and collective action.”

The project was presented at the Venice Gap-Financing Market, part of the Venice Film Festival’s Production Bridge, held from 29 – 31 August.

Call Me Queen is produced by Germany’s Ringel Film, France’s Les Films Pelléas, and the UK’s Cowboy Films and Streetcar Productions. Kenya’s Appie Matere (Ascent Films) is a co-producer, with EbonyLife’s Mo Abudu and Charles Steel (Cowboy Films) serving as executive producers.

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