If you unite a couple on a joint fight, the question is, "Does it unite them literally, or does it weaken their love?" And if it weakens their love, is that true love? And if this is true love, then you know they should be united by their separation. It's their fight that brings them emotionally together while they're physically separated, and so, though there's physical separation, there is mental and emotional closeness.
Amma AsanteI'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 the one I did, aesthetically, in terms of the costumes and the production design. I wanted something big and lush and beautiful and unashamedly feminine.
Amma AsanteTo really talk about African story, and teach this story, you have to teach that tribes were actually nations. You have to teach that chiefs were actually kings, with kingdoms. You have to teach that there was a structure that worked in Africa prior to colonialism. You have to teach that countries were colonized that were doing fine by themselves. And that's uncomfortable.
Amma AsanteSitting 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.
Amma AsanteWhat I hope is that this wider pattern of films about slavery 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.
Amma Asante