It took six years for the producers to raise money to make the film.[2] Screenwriter Isilda Hurst spent two and a half years researching the Queen and the historical context of her story. The studio consulted historians while researching for the film. [3] Filming took place in Kissama National Park in Angola[4] over nine weeks.[3] The filmmakers chose to use Portuguese as the primary language of the film because they felt it would allow the greatest number of Angolans to understand the film, even though that is historically inaccurate.[2]