Amma Asante
The “Belle” Interview
with Kam Williams

Amma's Good Karma!

Writer/director Amma Asante made an unusual entry into filmmaking. As a child, she attended the Barbara Speake stage school in London, where she trained as a student in dance and drama. 

She began a television career as a child actress, appearing as a regular in the popular British school drama “Grange Hill.” She fronted the ‘Just Say No” campaign of the 1980s and was one of nine “Grange Hill” children to take it to the Reagan White House. Amma went on to gain credits in other British television series including “Desmond's” and “Birds of a Feather,” and was a Children's Channel presenter for a year.

In her late teens, Amma left the world of acting and made the move to screenwriting with a development deal from Chrysalis. Two series of the urban drama “Brothers and Sisters” followed which she wrote and produced for the BBC.

Amma’s made her feature film directorial debut in 2004 with A Way of Life which won her 17 international awards including The BFI London Film Festival's inaugural Alfred Dunhill UK Film Talent Award, created to recognize the achievements of a new or emerging British writer/director who has shown great skill and imagination in bringing originality and verve to filmmaking. Additionally Asante collected The Times ‘Breakthrough Artist of the Year’ at the prestigious South Bank Show Awards for writing and directing the film.

At the BAFTA Film Awards in February 2005, Asante received the BAFTA Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement by a Writer/Director in a Debut Film. On the same night, she scored a double triumph at the 2005 Miami International Film Festival, winning the award for ‘Best Dramatic Feature in World Cinema’ and the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) prize for ‘Best Feature Film.’

Amma was born in London in 1969 and is married to Soren Kragh Pedersen, the Europol Chief of Media and Public Relations. Here, she talks about her new film, Belle, a fact-based, historical drama starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw about the daughter of an African slave and a British ship captain who was raised in England as an aristocrat.

 

 

Kam Williams: Hi Amma. I’m honored to have this opportunity.

Amma Asante: Thank you very much, Kam. It’s my pleasure.  

 

KW: I told my readers I’d be speaking with you, so I’ll be mixing in their questions with some of my own.

AA: Okay, cool.

 

KW: Children’s book author Irene Smalls asks: Where did you find this story and what motivated you to turn it into a movie? 

AA: Well, the story comes from the painting that emerges at the end of the film.

My producer [Damian Jones] sent me a postcard of the picture. I knew immediately that this was an unusual painting and that there was something very special about it, because I had recently been to an art exhibition in Amsterdam that was looking at the history of people of color in art from the 14th Century. What I learned from the show, without knowing that this postcard was ever going to fall into my lap, was that people of color were generally used as accessories in paintings. We were there to express the status of the main subject of the canvas. We’d always be positioned lower than and looking up in awe at the protagonist and never looking out at the painter. But in this postcard, everything was the opposite. There was Dido Belle staring out at the painter, positioned slightly higher than Elizabeth [her white cousin] whose arm was reaching out to Dido, and thereby drawing your eyes towards Dido. So, I saw an opportunity to create a story that would be a combination of race, politics, art and history. And it went from there, with lots and lots of research.

 

KW: I don’t agree with the assumption of Irene’s next question. Why did you focus on the love story instead of the historical significance?

AA: I disagree with her as well. I think the historical significance was to bring the two people in the love story together. What I tried to do was to use the legal case of the Zong Massacre and the painting itself as tools to explore Dido Elizabeth Belle’s journey. They feed into her being able to find her voice and into her coming to a place where she experiences self-love. So, I would say that that’s at the center of the film, the love story between Dido and herself. Everything else kind of sits around that idea of a young woman coming into her own.

 

KW: Irene was also wondering whether there might be a sequel in the works.

AA: [Chuckles] No, there isn’t. I feel like this painting fell into my lap because this story needed to be told by me. I believe I was blessed to have the opportunity to be able put this story together and bring it to the screen. But I feel that my role is completed now, and I’d have to leave a sequel to someone else.

 

KW: Editor/Legist Patricia Turnier says: I was very impressed that this elaborate costume drama/historical biopic was just your second feature film. 

AA: Thank you, Patricia. I knew that I wanted my second film to be big and lush and important, and that I wanted it to make a statement. That’s why it took those eight years to get from my first to my second feature. I always knew I had it in me. I just had to persuade the financiers as well. I think feature films are about the confidence you have in bringing your vision to fruition. 

 

KW: When I interviewed Gugu, she gave me the idea that you definitely had a vision of what you were trying to achieve, and also that she felt very comfortable in your hands.

AA: Oh, that’s nice of her to say. It was important to me for the cast to feel safe in my hands. I was very open to collaborating with them, but they also knew that I had a very, very strong vision for this story that I wanted to tell.

 

KW: She goes on to say:Given that I speak French, I am curious to know where the French last name of Dido Elizabeth Belle comes from?

AA: Dido was born to a West African woman who was sold into slavery. I named the film Belle to honor both Dido and her mother, Maria. But we don’t know how she came to have the surname Belle.

 

KW: Patricia says: I saw the movie in Quebec in English but I hope the movie will be translated soon into French and other languages to allow the Francophony and other cultures to discover it.

AA: Absolutely! The film has been translated ad is being released in France in a few months’ time.  

KW: Patricia also asks: Why do you think that the story of Belle remained unknown, despite the painting of her?

AA: That’s a very interesting question. I’m 44 years-old now, and I grew up not knowing anything about it. But young girls and boys in England today are being taught about Dido Belle. You can read about elements of her life in various books that have been published. What there wasn’t until our film was the quintessential story that pieced together Dido’s life. Since the film does contain some elements of fiction, Damian and I decided to commission Paula Byrne to write an absolutely historically-accurate version of Dido’s life in book form, also called “Belle.”

 

KW: Harriet Pakula-Teweles asks: How do you feel about the compliment that “The movie Belle has a woman’s touch and is a woman’s movie.”

AA: I like that compliment! And I thank whoever gave it. What I wanted to do was put a woman of color, front and center, in this movie combining a lot of themes that were relevant to both men and women. I actively wanted her to carry the weight of this movie because I’m a woman. And I actively wanted to explore many of the issues that affected her as a woman of color. That was very important to me. And although these issues affect some women of color, I don’t think they’re only of interest to women of color. They’re of universal interest. In addition, I’m a girl, and I celebrate being a girl, and it was really important to me to celebrate the beauty that I could create in a movie like this, aesthetically, in terms of the costumes and the production design. I wanted something big and lush and beautiful and unashamedly feminine. So, I take that as a big compliment, Harriet.

 

KW: The Uduak Oduok question: Who is your favorite clothes designer?

AA: Oh my God! You’d be forcing me to really nail my flag to the mast. But I have a few. Chanel! I love and adore Chanel. I’m a huge Christian Dior fan. And I’m also a huge Yves St. Laurent fan.  

 

KW: Three classics!

AA: I’m just a classic gal!

 

KW: Editor Lisa Loving asks: What is your take on the blossoming genre of films about the African Diaspora during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade? Do you expect to see more films about this aspect of history made?

AA: I think we will because, every so many years, a filmmaker returns to the subject. Interestingly, I also sense that a wider feed is coming through in these stories. I cried watching The Butler, because I understood that with all these wonderful films like Mandela, 12 Years a Slave and Half of a Yellow Sun that a beautiful tapestry of our history was in the process of being woven all over the world. I found that very inspiring and started to weep because I realized that Belle would be a part of that tapestry. What I hope is that this wider pattern that’s emerging isn’t just a fad but evidence that we’ve turned a corner as filmmakers of color and that we’re moving forward in our confidence and in the film industry not being afraid of our telling these stories and in giving us the opportunity to bring our vision to the screen.

 

KW: Lisa also asks: Did you find Tarantino’s Django Unchained gratuitously violent?

AA: I don’t think it’s for me to comment on how other directors choose to bring their visions to fruition. You can watch Belle to see what I think my film needed to communicate its message about slavery. For me, I found it unnecessary to show any great violence. However, Quentin Tarantino did find it necessary for his film, and I have to respect his decision as one filmmaker respecting another. I’ll leave it at that.

 

KW: The Harriet Pakula-Teweles question: With so many classic films being redone, is there a remake you'd like to direct?

AA: Well, there is. And I just bought the rights to the project two days ago. It’s a remake of a fabulous French film. I can’t give it away, but stay tuned.

 

KW: The Ling-Ju Yen question: What is your earliest childhood memory?

AA: My earliest childhood memory I actually injected into Belle. It’s of me sitting on my dad’s lap. I remember him saying to me, “You don’t understand what I’m saying to you right now, but know that you are loved.” That’s where that line comes from in the movie where Dido’s biological father leans down to say the same thing to her. Belle is also dedicated to my father who died unexpectedly during the making of the film. It’s a movie that means a lot to me because I made it not only for little girls around the world who grew up to see themselves reflected in a film like this, but also for my father because it was the kind of picture he would love, even if his daughter had nothing to do with it. So, my earliest memory of him is in the movie.

 

KW: My condolences, Amma. Is it true that your father was an accountant, your mother was a housekeeper, and that they also opened a deli?

AA: Yes, that’s correct. After my parents arrived in England, it took them a decade to get a foothold. It meant that they had to work non-stop. My mother would do two cleaning jobs in the morning before opening her deli, and then do two more cleaning jobs in the evening. Her whole day, from 4:30 AM until 9 PM was spent working, as was my father’s, between the office and the shop.

 

KW: You became a TV star as a teenager. How did you avoid the problems that destroy the lives of so many child actors?

AA: Again, I would honestly have to credit my parents, Kwame and Comfort, who ensured that my feet as well as my siblings stayed firmly on the ground. So, I was very well-rooted. I also learned the value of money from a very young age. I thank God for that.

 

KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?

AA: Jollof rice, a very popular Ghanain dish I learned from my mother. It’s a mixture of rice and vegetables that you can make with either chicken or beef. It’s great because it was designed to give a child or an adult all the nutrients they need in one dish. And it is my absolute favorite!

 

KW: When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

AA: I see the woman I knew I wanted to be as a child. When I was a young girl, I had a vision of the woman I wanted to be. And I often reached out to women of color in America for inspiration. My mother would regularly buy Essence and Ebony. I would look at those magazines filled with images of professional, intelligent women of color who knew who they were, who enjoyed who they were, and who were surrounded by other people who enjoyed who they were. When I look in the mirror, I’m really glad that that’s what I see today, but it took awhile to get here.

 

KW: Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?

AA: I would have to say “No.” But before Belle, I would have answered “Yes.” The great thing about this movie is that I’ve put so much of myself on the table, and put so much of my guts into the movie that I’ve really worn my heart on my sleeve, and everybody has really gotten access to my heart and my head. Many of the questions from your readers have been great. But I would like to turn the question around and ask you: Is there any question you have for me that you might be too shy to ask?

 

KW: Funny you should ask. I do have a few I’d decided against. Here’s one: Would you mind saying something controversial that would get this interview tweeted?

AA: [LOL] Yes, I would mind.

 

KW: Another one I was planning to pass on was the Sanaa Lathan question: What excites you?

AA: I really can answer that one. Sitting in the back row of a full audience watching one of my movies, and hearing them cry and hearing them laugh in the right moments, particularly when they laugh at a line I’ve stolen from one of my family members and put in the film. That excites me a great deal. And that’s an honest answer.

 

KW: I also hesitated to ask you the Melissa Harris-Perry question:How did your first big heartbreak impact who you are as a person?

AA: My first big heartbreak has made me an irrepressible romantic. I was lucky enough to date my first love for five years. We had a very romantic, very dramatic teenage love affair. And it has impacted me because I have married a man who is simply the grownup version of my first love. So, I believe my first love was just preparing me for the man I’m married to today. And it has also impacted the way I write, because there will always be a love story in every movie I write. Always! I think having a positive first love experience before the heartbreak made me a more confident in who I am, a more confident female today. That might be controversial. 

 

KW: If you could have one wish instantly granted, what would that be for?

AA: A child. I’ve been trying for a child with my husband for a long time, for over eight years. And if I could have one wish instantly granted, it would be to be pregnant with a healthy baby.

 

KW: I know his name is Soren. What type of name is that? Swedish?

AA: Close. He’s Danish.

 

KW: The Kerry Washington question: If you were an animal, what animal would you be?

AA: A panther! Dangerous and beautiful.

 

KW: The Judyth Piazza question: What key quality do you believe all successful people share? 

AA: The ability to inspire, to transfer our passion to other people and to bring them along with us in pursuit of our vision. I have to be able to inspire investors, actors and crews on a daily basis. What I recognize in other successful people is a similar ability to make their passion infectious.

 

KW: Thanks again for the time, Amma, and best of luck with Belle.

AA: Thank you, Kam. It’s been great to talk to you.

To see a trailer for Belle, visit

X-Men: Days of Future Past
Film Review by Kam Williams

X-Men: Days of Future Past represents the 7th episode in the storied mutant series, and is the third directed by Bryan Singer who also helmed X-Men 1 and 2. This installment is loosely based on the 1981 Marvel Comics (issues #141-142) of the same name, a convoluted tale in which one of the superheroes is sent back in time to prevent an impending disaster threatening the present.

The story unfolds in a dystopian future where we find a race of robots called Sentinels slaying mutants and subjugating humanity. X-Men founder/leader/brain of the operation Dr. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) summons his surviving protégés to a meeting in a monastery in China to hatch a plan to preserve the planet.

With the help of “phasing” Shadowcat’s (Ellen Page) quantum tunneling ability, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) slips through a portal to a parallel universe in 1973. His mission there is to stop fellow mutant Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from murdering Trask (Peter Dinklage), the diabolical genius who invented the Sentinels.

Why would you want a vanquished villain to be reincarnated? Don’t ask. After all, that’s one of the easier leaps of faith this flick’s farfetched plot expects you to make. If you need a plausible plot, then you might be too close-minded for this imaginative sci-fi.

Try on for size the novel notion that President Kennedy was killed “because he was one of us.” OK, let’s see, so JFK was assassinated for being a mutant? Why not? Just a couple of years ago we learned from another movie that Abraham Lincoln was a vampire slayer. Revisionist history? Or little known fact? You be the judge. What’s next, Dwight Eisenhower as an alien?

But I digress. Fortunately, X-Men 7 audience members will be very richly rewarded for taking flights of fancy, provided they succeed in suspending their disbelief. Don’t try to make sense, for instance, about how you go back in time, reverse a long-deceased person’s demise, and not simultaneously unravel myriad aspects of reality which have already subsequently transpired.

Instead, simply sit back and enjoy a sophisticated period piece unfolding against a nostalgic backdrop littered with staples of the Seventies ranging from lava lamps to waterbeds. This adventure even brings out of mothballs a number of favorite characters we haven’t seen in awhile, such as Storm (Halle Berry), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Cyclops (James Marsden), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Colossus (Daniel Cudmore).

Don’t forget to sit through all of the credits for a decent-length teaser about X-Men 8: Apocalypse, coming to theaters in May of 2016. X-Men, a fabled franchise that like a fine wine, just keeps improving with age.

Excellent (4 stars)

Rated PG-13 for nudity, profanity, suggestive material and intense violence

In English, French and Vietnamese with subtitles

Running time: 131 minutes

Distributor: 20th Century Fox

To see a trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past, visit

Inside the Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story ... and Why It Matters Today

by Edouard Kayihura and Kerry Zukus
Book Review by Kam Williams
BenBella Books
Hardcover, $24.95
296 pages
ISBN: 978-193785674-8

“Hotel Rwanda was ‘promoted as a story about ‘the quiet heroism of one man, Paul Rusesabagina, during the Rwandan Genocide.’ I knew Paul Rusesabagina. All the people who survived inside the hotel… knew Paul Rusesabagina.

No one among us has ever thought of him as altruistic, let alone heroic. On the contrary, of all the people who were within the hotel during the genocide, he would quite possibly be considered the furthest from a hero…

Rusesabagina had been a war profiteer, a friend to the architects of the genocide, a man willing to starve those without money while hoarding piles of food, drink and riches for himself.”

Excerpted from the Introduction (page xxx)

In 2004, the film Hotel Rwanda received widespread acclaim for its heartrending account of how one man had singlehandedly shielded over a thousand Tutsi refugees from certain death during the Rwandan Genocide by hiding them in the hotel he managed. Don Cheadle earned an Academy Award nomination for his powerful portrayal of Paul Rusesabagina, an apparent modern-day saint suddenly mentioned in the same breath as Oskar Schindler, the German factory owner who had saved so many Jews from the Holocaust during World War II.

Rusesabagina was subsequently celebrated by Amnesty International and other organizations as he embarked on a world tour during which he collected countless prizes and honorary degrees, including the Wallenberg Medal, the National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to name a few. And, to this day, he’s remained in demand as a revered icon and inspirational speaker sought to recount his uplifting tale of unparalleled bravery in the face of ethnic cleansing.

What a difference a decade makes! Over the intervening years, telltale cracks gradually appeared in the image Rusesabagina had so carefully cultivated with the help of Hollywood and the human rights community. Those swirling rumors came out into the open when Rwandan President Kagame referred to the supposed paragon of virtue as a total fraud.

Now, Hotel Rwanda survivor Edouard Kayihura has collaborated with journalist Kerry Zukus to set the record straight once and for all. Their book, “Inside the Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story… and Why It Matters Today” painstakingly deconstructs Rusesabagina’s self-serving myth about what transpired.

Truth be told, he was never a hero but rather a Hutu sympathizer and war profiteer who had extorted money from the frightened folks seeking refuge on the grounds of his hotel. According to Kayihura, “He treated… us as his personal cash register… Refugees were refused entrance unless they could pay him.”

Furthermore, “The hotel was protected by UN peacekeepers and any attempt to kill was aborted by them… Paul Rusesabagina had absolutely nothing to do with any of this.“ Kayihura‘s damning assertions are supported by the recollections of many of his fellow countrymen who had sought refuge at the hotel for the duration of the bloody conflict.

Assuming this eye-opening opus is accurate, a debt of gratitude is owed Kayihura and Zukus for belatedly exposing a very slippery character as a shameless charlatan.

Grand Depart
Film Review by Kam Williams

Luc (Jeremie Elkaim) and Romain (Pio Marmai) might be siblings but they’re as different as night and day. The former is a struggling screenwriter who has never amounted to much. His relatively-boring brother, on the other hand, is a straitlaced nerd who’s been doing his best to move up the corporate ladder by sitting behind a desk in a tie and jacket.

The two are also unalike when it comes to romance. Flamboyantly gay Luc has a life mate, Adrian (Willy Cartier), that he’s thinking about marrying, while heterosexual Romain’s lack of a personality has prevented him finding a woman willing to share a relationship.

Unfortunately, they’ve been emotionally estranged since childhood, when domineering Luc used to tease and torture his younger brother. That mistreatment gave rise to a tension that has persisted to the present, which is where we find both vying for the approval of their long-divorced parents.

Abusive Georges (Eddy Mitchell) had apparently abused masochistic Danielle (Chantal Lauby) until his long-suffering wife couldn’t take it any longer. Since separating, they’ve remained cordial only for the sake of their sons. After all, it’s hard to forgive a husband who flagrantly frequented prostitutes.

Lately, the 65 year-old patriarch has been behaving erratically, and was subsequently diagnosed by his doctor as slowly succumbing to dementia. This means he needs more support from flaky, favored son Luc who still lives at home.

However, when that isn’t forthcoming, Romain dutifully takes time from his busy schedule to attend to his dad’s healthcare needs. And when worse comes to worst, he prevails upon a nursing home administrator (Charlotte de Turckheim) he knows to expedite Georges admission to the facility she manages.

The family crisis also puts the siblings in close proximity of one another on a daily basis again, which gives them a chance to address their unresolved rivalry. Will they bury the hatchet for the sake of their ailing father?

That is the raison d’etre of Grand Depart, a character-driven drama marking the impressive directorial debut of scriptwriter Nicolas Mercier (My Worst Nightmare). The film features a compelling end of life theme similar to the Oscar Best Foreign Film-winner Amour, though this picture’s embattled protagonists aren’t nearly as empathetic or embraceable.

Basically, a bittersweet tale about a couple of polar-opposites endeavoring to bury the hatchet for the sake of their rapidly-expiring dad.

 

Unrated

In French with subtitles

Running time: 80 minutes

Distributor: Rialto Premieres

To see a trailer for Grand Depart, visit

Blended
Film Review by Kam Williams

Jim Friedman (Adam Sandler) is a widower who’s raising three daughters on his own. Since the macho man’s man is clueless about girls, he’s been slowly turning them into tomboys, between the Prince Valiant haircuts and referring to them by the masculine nicknames Larry (Bella Thorne), Lou (Alyvia Alyn Lind) and ESPN (Emma Fuhrmann).

By contrast, Lauren Reynolds’ (Drew Barrymore) plight is practically the polar opposite. The frazzled, very feminine divorcee is being driven crazy by her testosterone-sodden sons, pubescent Brendan (Braxton Beckham) and hyperactive ‘tween Tyler (Kyle Red Silverstein). The former’s hormones are raging, while his little brother’s pyromania has his mother seriously considering starting him on a Ritalin regimen.

Neither Jim nor Lauren had been on a date in ages until they made each other’s acquaintance online. They agreed to meet for drinks, and the prospects looked promising, given how her sons’ need for a father figure conveniently dovetailed with his daughters’ for maternal guidance.

Unfortunately, rendezvousing at Hooters turned out to be a bad idea, due to Jim’s paying more attention to the waitresses and to the basketball game on TV than to Lauren. So, the two chalked the unmitigated disaster up to experience, and went their separate way, never expecting to see each other ever again.

But, through a highly-improbable series of coincidences, both of their families end-up booked on the same flight to South Africa for an all expenses-paid vacation where they’ll have to share a hotel suite at a luxury resort. Will Jim take advantage of his second chance to make a first impression?

That is the quandary established at the outset of Blended, the third romantic romp revolving around an Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore collaboration (along with The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates). But before the audience has an answer, the pair and their progeny must first indulge in the sort of stupid-funny fare that made Sandler famous.

The kitchen sink comedy then proceeds to throw anything up on the screen for a laugh (especially pecs-popping, scene-stealer Terry Crews as the irrepressible local entertainer), regardless of whether or not a skit fits into the plot or furthers the storyline. As dumb as the jokes were (and they are often plenty dumb), I have to admit that I frequently found myself laughing in spite of myself.

Call me bwana, but it’s three times a charm for Sandler and Barrymore on this totally-silly surfin’ safari!

Very Good (3 stars)

Rated PG-13 for profanity, sexuality and crude humor

Running time: 117 minutes

Distributor: Warner Brothers

To see a trailer for Blended, visit