The 60th BFI London Film Festival, which runs from October 5–16 this year, will open with “A United Kingdom,” directed by Amma Asante (“Belle”).
The film will make its European premiere on opening night at the Odeon Leicester Square, with Asante, and stars David Oyelowo (“Selma”) and Rosamund Pike (“Gone Girl”) in attendance.
“A United Kingdom” is based on the book “Color Bar” by Susan Williams, with a screenplay from Guy Hibbert (“Eye in the Sky”). According to the official synopsis, it tells “the true story of Seretse Khama, King of Bechuanaland (modern Botswana), and Ruth Williams, the London office worker he married in 1947 in the face of fierce opposition from their families and the British and South African governments.” Oyelowo plays Seretse Khama and Pike plays Ruth Williams.
As ScreenDaily detailed, “Asante is the first black director to open or close the London Film Festival and the fifth woman director to open the 60 year-old event.”
“The Festival means a lot to me personally,” said Asante of BFI London, “having showcased my very first film, ‘A Way of Life,’ here and been honored with the UK Film Talent Award. I’m a proud Londoner and in ‘A United Kingdom’ we’ve been able to film in some of the most beautiful parts of the city as well as in the wonderful landscapes of Botswana.”
Clare Stewart, BFI London Film Festival Director, called the film, “a testament to a defiant and enduring love story that also reveals a complex, painful chapter in British history. We are proud to be opening the 60th BFI London Film Festival with a film of such contemporary relevance, one that celebrates the triumph of love and intelligence over intolerance and oppression, and that confirms Asante as a distinctive and important British filmmaker.”
