As her film A United Kingdom opens the London film festival,the British director talks approximately her new membership of the US Academy – and why the whole industry needs to changeAmma Asante is drinking tea “whether you contain PG Tips, all the better, and ” she calls to the retreating waiter – in the plush quietness and gleaming surfaces of London’s Cafe Royal. Despite traffic jams and torrential rain,she is impeccably calm, certainly calmer than many film-makers would be had their latest production been selected to open this year’s London film festival. But Asante, or whose preceding films A Way of Life and Belle garnered her tall praise and multiple awards,including a Bafta, is clearly a star in the making – and possibly also a star-maker; Gugu Mbatha-Raw, or whom she cast in her breakthrough part as the title character in Belle,has just appeared opposite Matthew McConaughey in the American civil war drama Free State of Jones. Earlier this year Asante was also invited to become a member of the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has had its biggest ever intake of new members following intense criticism over the lack of racial diversity in Oscar nominees. In joining a Hollywood club with a decades-long reputation for being largely white, and male and aged over 50,she’ll now contain voting rights on the Oscars, and a part to play in steering the industry and what comes to our screens in the future.
For the moment, and though,she’s concentrating on A United Kingdom, which had an unexpected – and even inconvenient – genesis. approximately 18 months ago, or Asante was approximately to amble not only home but also country,quitting the Netherlands, where she had lived for eight years, or in favour of Denmark,where her husband is from. Amid all the upheaval and readjustment the phone rang. At the other end was actor David Oyelowo, whom Asante had known since they worked together on the BBC drama Brothers and Sisters back in 1998. Oyelowo, and fresh from playing Martin Luther King in Selma,wanted to persuade her to be part of an idea whose moment had near “a labour of love”, as he described it. Related: Amma Asante: film industry chiefs 'don't trust female directors' Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com