The highly anticipated feature film, A United Kingdom, by BAFTA Award Winning Writer & Director, Amma Asante, is set to open the 60th BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday, 5 October 2016, at the Odeon Leicester Square for its European premiere. Amma Asante now becomes the first black female to have her film open at the prestigious BFI London Film Festival.
Terry Pheto features in this star studded cast feature film alongside David Oyelowo (Selma) as Seretse Khama with Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) playing his future wife Ruth Williams. Other cast members include the likes of Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean), Tom Felton (Harry Potter), Arnold Oceng (Adulthood), Jack Lowden (’71) and Laura Carmichael (Downton Abbey).
“To feature amongst the caliber of actors and actresses cast for this film and have my talent recognised by international casting agents and producers is humbling. I’ve been an actor for 13 years now and every day I work on honing my craft and becoming a better actress and to get jobs such as this one definitely proves hard work pays off” expresses Terry Pheto.
A United Kingdom depicts 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. Terry Pheto plays the role of Naledi Khama, sister of Seretse Khama.
Clare Stewart, BFI London Film Festival Director, says: “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. 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.”