Having already premiered the film at Toronto Film Festival in early September, Pathé have just unveiled the first official trailer for expected biopic, A United Kingdom, starring Gone Girls Rosamund Pike and Selma star, David Oyelowo. And if the footage is anything to go by, this looks like one that cinema-goers should certainly keep their eyes on.
Directed by Amma Assante — who previously masterminded the critically acclaimed movie, Belle) and written by Eye In The Skys Guy Hibbert, A United Kingdom depicts the true story of Seretse Khama, Prince of Bechuanaland (modern Botswana) who falls in love with a white, English woman named Ruth Williams in the late 1940s. A year into their relationship, Khama asks Williams to marry him and urges that the pair return to Botswana for him to resume his duties as leader. He also wanted to challenge the social attitudes brought about by apartheid and British Imperialism.
Upon their arrival, their marriage is met with international controversy, forcing the pair to fight for what they believed was right and for a more accepting world. Interestingly, the trailer shows that the film will concentrate on both Khama and Williams — offering up each of their different experiences and the prejudice they face — separately and as a couple.
Similarly, the clip makes it clear that this film is neither an outright romance or political drama, as Hibberts script tiptoes the line between both genres gracefully. A triumph helped along by cinematographer Sam McCurdys work too, which evidently flits between sun-soaked, dreamy sequences and up-close personal shots.
Harry Potter veteran Tom Felton and Pirates Of The Caribbean actor Jack Davenport also appear in the film, as do Downton Abbeys Laura Carmichael, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Oyelowos real life wife Jessica Oyelowo. A United Kingdom is set to open the BFI London Film Festival on 5 October and will reach UK cinemas on 25 November; an annual date which coincides with the 50th anniversary of independence in Botswana. At the moment, the film is still waiting on its US release date.
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