“Belle” director Amma Asante’s next film, “A United Kingdom” will make its world premiere September 9 during the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, then make its way to London where it will open the 60th BFI London Film Festival. We’re hoping that soon after that it heads to U.S. theaters, because a newly released trailer for the romantic drama has awards season written all over it.
“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.” “Selma” star David Oyelowo plays Seretse Khama and “Gone Girl’s” Rosamund Pike plays Ruth Williams.
BFI London Film Festival Director, Clare Stewart, called the film, “a testament to a defiant and enduring love story that also reveals a complex, painful chapter in British history,” and “one that celebrates the triumph of love and intelligence over intolerance and oppression, and that confirms Asante as a distinctive and important British filmmaker.”
The Academy has yet to nominate a woman of color for Best Director, since Ava DuVernay was snubbed for “Selma,” so perhaps Asante will become the first in a no doubt game-changing year.
Watch the trailer for “A United Kingdom” below.