Kenyan-shot film Call Me Queen premieres in Nairobi on 17 October; tickets KSh 2,500

Call Me Queen, a drama shot in Kenya and set in Nairobi in 1999, has its Kenyan premiere at the NBO Film Festival on 17 October, after screenings in Hamburg and before a cinema release in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda on 30 October. KBC Digital reported the details on 10 October.

The premiere is at Prestige Ngong Road and starts at 6pm, with cast and crew expected to attend, KBC Digital said. The festival is in its seventh edition and runs from 15 to 25 October across four Nairobi venues, Capital FM reported on 2 September. Mbithi Masya is its artistic director.

Tickets cost KSh 2,500 and are sold through Yakwetu, one of the film's two distributors, Capital FM reported on 17 September. The price covers a welcome cocktail, the screening, a Q&A with cast and crew, and networking with filmmakers and industry guests. KBC Digital lists the same package.

Filmfest Hamburg lists the 105-minute film in its Kaleidoscope section, with screenings on 28 September at Passage Kino and on 3 October at CinemaxX Dammtor. The festival's page gives the film as a Germany-France-Kenya production in English and Swahili. KBC Digital said the film has been selected for international festivals, including Hamburg.

The director is Emily Atef, described by both KBC Digital and Capital FM as a French-Iranian filmmaker. The screenplay is by Atef, Hawa Essuman, Josune Hahnheiser and Jeannine Dominy, based on Lara Santoro's novel Mercy.

The story follows Queen Achungo, a Rwandan refugee and single mother living in Korogocho slum, who becomes housekeeper to Anna, an Irish-Italian journalist. When Queen learns she is HIV-positive, her fight for survival becomes a much larger struggle, and the two women join forces against unequal access to life-saving HIV medication, KBC Digital said.

Eliane Umuhire plays Queen. The international cast also includes Denise Gough, Charlie Carrick, Dominic West, Laurent Lafitte and Danny Sapani. The Kenyan actors named by KBC Digital and Capital FM are Michelle Tiren, Nice Githinji, Lwanda Jawar, Helen Keli, Peter Kawa and Eddie Kimani. Both outlets say the film was shot in Kenya with a largely local cast and crew.

Atef called Queen "the undisputed heroine of the film, a woman whose resilience and natural leadership emerge as her personal struggle grows into a fight for her community", as quoted by KBC Digital on 10 October and Capital FM on 17 September.

The film is distributed by Crimson Multimedia and Yakwetu. Capital FM reported that their co-CEO, Trushna Buddhdev-Patel, invited partners to host impact screenings on HIV/AIDS, healthcare access, women's empowerment and community.

After its cinema run, the film will be available online through Yakwetu, KBC Digital reported.