The BFI has announced that Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom is set to serve as the Opening Night gala of the 60th BFI London Film Festival, with its European premiere set for Wednesday, October 5th.
A United Kingdom 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.
David Oyelowo (Selma) stars as Seretse Khama, with Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) playing his future wife Ruth Williams. They are joined in the cast by Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean), Terry Pheto (Mandela), Tom Felton (Harry Potter), Arnold Oceng (Adulthood), Jack Lowden (’71) and Laura Carmichael (Downton Abbey).
“Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom is testament to a defiant and enduring love story that also reveals a complex, painful chapter in British history,” states Clare Stewart, director of the festival. “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.”
“It’s a great privilege that A United Kingdom has been selected as the Opening Night Film of the BFI London Film Festival,” adds director Asante. “The Festival means a lot to me personally, having showcased my very first film, A Way of Life, here and been honoured 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.”
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Originally published June 21, 2016. Updated April 14, 2018.
