Amma Asante’s latest has secured distribution in advance of its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Deadline reports that Vertical Entertainment snagged North American rights to the Amandla Stenberg-starrer. “Where Hands Touch” sees the “Everything, Everything” actress in another star-crossed romance.

Set in 1944 Germany, the pic centers on Leyna (Stenberg), the 15-year-old daughter of a white German mother (Abbie Cornish) and a black African father. She “meets Lutz (George MacKay), a compassionate member of the Hitler Youth whose father (Christopher Eccleston) is a prominent Nazi soldier. The pair form an unlikely connection as Leyna’s mother strives to protect her from the horrors she could face as a mixed-race German citizen,” the source summarizes. “Can Leyna find an ally in Lutz, himself battling a fate laid out before him that he is hesitant to embrace?”

“It has been a passion of mine to tell this story for many years — to shine a light on the existence of German children of color who were forced to grow up under Hitler’s rule, labelled as ‘Rhineland bastards,’ Asante has said. “Against this historical backdrop, Leyna and Lutz enter a rite of passage negotiating the path to true identity in a society that has turned in on itself and is eating its own tail. Completing this film brings together everything I am as filmmaker.”

As the source notes, “Where Hands Touch” is Asante’s fourth film to bow at TIFF following “A Way of Life,” “Belle,” and most recently, “A United Kingdom.”

Slated to hit U.S. theaters September 14, followed by an exclusive window on DirecTV starting December 6, “Where Hands Touch” will begin streaming exclusively on Hulu in March 2019.

“With ‘Where Hands Touch,’ Amma has crafted a powerful and resonant coming-of-age story that challenges our understanding of the lives impacted by World War II and encourages us to recognize that our shared humanity can be our greatest strength in the face of cruelty and hate,” said Vertical co-president Rich Goldberg. “We can’t wait for audiences to experience it for themselves this fall.”

Up next for Asante is “The Billion Dollar Spy,” a true crime thriller set during the last years of the Cold War.

“Be relentless, bold, tenacious, and know your worth,” the British director urged when we asked her advice for other female filmmakers.