‘Elvis and the King’ is a story of the passion, hope and resilience of an 11 year old Kenyan boy named Elvis Johnstone Okwemba. Elvis was born into poverty in a country with basic educational opportunities for people with limited economic resources. However, Elvis has a secret weapon. He is a chess prodigy.
From the age of seven, Elvis taught himself to play the game of Kings. Soon after, he began winning local, regional and national competitions. He approached his headmaster with the idea of forming a chess club at his school and has trained many other kids, creating a team which also compete at the national level. Elvis has already qualified for four international competitions, none of which he could attend due to lack of funds.
With his characteristic optimism, Elvis believes can beat the current chess world champion, Magnus Carlsen (also a child prodigy), having studied his game extensively. With the support of two unlikely men – Maxwel Omondi from Elvis’ community and Jim Chapman, an Australian living in Kenya – can Elvis and his team follow their dream?
After studying Communications, Sociology and Philosophy at Macquarie University between 1983 and 1986, Peter began working working in the Australian film and TV industry shooting and directing music videos, educational and short films, before attending AFTRS in 1992. In 1993/1994 he co produced and directed a 4 x 1/2 hour documentary series for SBS. Peter has gone on to film a wide variety of Drama, Documentary, Television and Imax films, working in over forty countries. During this time he has received numerous awards and in 2008 he was awarded accreditation from the Australian Cinematographers Society.
Peter is one of the most experienced documentary cinematographers in Australia and as a result has often been paired with less experienced directors, helping guide them through the storytelling process. It is a natural progression in his career to want to tell his own stories, particularly about social change.
