Amma Asante

Amma Asante (born 13 September 1969) is a Ghanaian-British filmmaker, screenwriter, actress and chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts since 2019. Quotes Sometimes, with people of colour, we can be at the end of racist actions, even though the people that are performing those actions aren’t necessarily racist the issue of mixed relationships isn’t quite as comfortable for a lot of people today as we might think it is I’m female, I’m black and I just didn’t feel I had any examples to really hang my hook on. It makes me feel like I am now the example that I was looking for 12 years ago The idea that there will be youngsters coming through today who might have ambitions in film, who will never think of this as anything odd or strange in the way that I did, because it will just seem normal to them, which is as it should be There’s clearly contemporary resonance there, and then in terms of identity, freedom, migration and immigration, they all become part of the story that I think projects onto contemporary times What I never, ever wanted was for anybody to think that she was “exoticising” Seretse in some way and that the relationship wasn’t anything other than a real attraction between two people Amma Asante: ‘The issue of mixed relationships still isn’t comfortable for a lot of people’ 21 November 2016 What I learnt was oftentimes a black subject in a piece of art was very much like a pet So it was important for us to understand how the world sometimes makes us feel, how we feel burdened by what we are, by the shape of our eyes, the size of our nose, the colour of our skin, the size of our butt or whatever This history belongs to all of us; it’s a history that doesn’t just belong to the black diaspora Belle: Amma Asante interview 12 May 2014 As writers, what we want to do, always, is have a two way relationship between the characters Sometimes you have to be in the game to change the game Being passionate, being a loose cannon, will get you so far but there comes a point where you, if you really, really want to change the world, there comes a point where there might be the possibility that you have to be more savvy and strategic about the way that you do tha Life is a little bit more complex being a black female or a mixed-race female My biggest terror, and I think all of our biggest fears, at times, is that we’ll be discovered. Somebody will work out who we really are and then we’ll be repealed by that the most joyous love I think is when you’re with someone who you think just totally gets it and totally accepts you for who you are I think that’s often all of our struggle, how we make those choices about the decisions we make and how we move forward At some point heart, truth, and instinct will out, and each is bringing that out in the other Interview [Part 5]: Amma Asante, Director, “Belle” 2 May 2014 Around the time of the 18th century, we really were - people of color were - an accessory in a painting. We were there rather like a pet to express the status of the main person in the painting, who was always white I grew up never seeing anybody that looked like me wearing these dresses during this period because it was very, very, very rare what I feel very fulfilled about is the idea now that little girls of color will grow up and know that at least in this film they're showed a possibility that we were more than slaves Behind 'Belle': An 18th Century Portrait Ahead Of Its Time 2 May 2014 You never know how much your fridge needs a clean until you hit a rough spot in a script It's said that genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. I want to be part of creating the world as it will be when people believe in black women Director Amma Asante on Her New Film A United Kingdom and Her Creative Process 16 February 2017 When that integration is foisted upon you as a means of survival, there’s nobody else around you that looks like you – it’s persecution in isolation, not persecution within a community, and one is not better than the other, they’re just different Men’s films are always deemed as transferable, whereas women have to show incrementally why they are appropriate to take that next giant step How do you find your moral code? For all of us, there’s a great necessity for us to know what our moral code it today. What do we stand up for? What don’t we?  What do we stand by and watch happen? Even though we know it is wrong. How do we cope with circumstances, situations that make us uncomfortable? We don’t like inconvenience as a set of people and I mean that in terms of life and death situations that existed The thing about something when it resonates – sometimes that will get you into trouble as well I’m really happy that now is the time because in the right quarters and the right conversations are being had Interview: Director Amma Asante On ‘Where Hands Touch’ 10 May 2019 They asked me [in a previous interview] what was the turning point for you when you understood your identity as you’re comfortable with it today? And I said it was in the arts. It was popular culture. It was Soul II Soul, it was Young Soul Rebels. It was a generation of first generationers who were taking the black British experience and impressing it on the arts. That’s how I saw my identity reflected back at me. Growing up as a child, nobody was careful about the fact that I was a ten-year-old when they were being explicitly racist I wanted to see women like I thought I would grow up into We’re in a transition where blatant racism is coming back I think that with my films what I’m able to do is to allow men and women of all colours to walk in the shoes of the protagonist, a protagonist that has not traditionally been black, or black and female just because you love someone doesn’t mean you can’t be racist When you walk with the point of view of your partner of colour, I think it changes the way you see the world The issue of diversity is that we as a society – black, white, female, male, varying levels of ability– have always understood that there is a particular default story that has a default protagonist. Anything that veers way from that is not a good film, or is not done properly… or doesn’t come together. Any level of diversity challenges that The Director Of A United Kingdom On Race & Identity 24 November 2016 I think we use the term hero too often and we use the term inspirational too often. I think what is truly inspirational and truly heroic is when you see a couple or a person engaged in actions that are positive and brave and courageous that you know the majority of people around you could not mirror. I just always think that when love comes to it, somehow, it has to be able to melt hate, and it has to be able to melt discourse How angry it would make me if I were placed in the situation where I was being told I couldn't love the man that I love in the country that I want to love him in One way I try and turn being a female filmmaker who doesn't get a lot of opportunity or previously hasn't had a lot of opportunity into a positive is that I feel I have nothing to lose for me, it's really important to tell the stories in a way that make me feel proud to have my name at the end of them How do you move forward in a world that is structured to not give you opportunity? I always try to put a big emphasis on women of color because we know that's particularly where the dearth is, even within the context of a lack of opportunity for women in general. I think one day, I don't know how many hundreds of years we're gonna have to wait, but I do think one day we're gonna look back and really understand how un-evolved we were in this period, where we really do believe that it makes sense to have the majority of films be told through a very similar gaze time after time, and that we aren't offering audiences that variety of storytelling that they deserve The Director of 'A United Kingdom' on Why We Need This Movie More Than Ever 10 February 2017 There are things that male protagonists are allowed to do that people are uncomfortable with a female protagonist doing I'm all about putting smart chicks onscreen even when they are flawed, because all human beings are flawed I don't want to give up any of my femininity because of what I do, so I'm aware of that when I dress. I'm very girly when it comes to that stuff. I do think women lead differently than men, equally powerfully, but differently This Austen-Esque Period Drama With a Black Protagonist Has Us Intrigued 1 April 2014 I think I contributed to change through the outlook of film, and whom stories are told by; how we can open different and new windows onto subjects that we think we know, but perhaps have never seen through the eyes of a particular person before what if racism wasn't a sickness, but was a symptom of the sickness? What if there was something underneath the racism, something deeper, that we could talk about and think about? And maybe if we did that, we'd be at the beginnings of finding a way to move forward in a healthy way. And that's why I made the film It's important to shine a light on all the other areas that make a film come to life Making a film is a bit like learning to drive - you have to get on the road without your instructor at some point, and just face it by yourself. being in an environment where I was the only woman, or the only woman of colour… I did it - and so many of my generation did it - so that you don't have to. So that you can exist in an entirely different world. Doors that were not open for me, are absolutely open to you AMMA ASANTE JOINS US FOR A CAREER RETROSPECTIVE 21 November 2024 This other side of that coin that I did learn is that you didn’t have to stay in the position or the role that you entered the industry in, that you could progress sideways, diagonally, backwards, upwards, however you want to look at it Interview [Part 1]: Amma Asante, Director, “Belle” 28 April 2014 External Link