Amma AsanteYou have to go back 10 years to find Amma Asante’s preceding directorial endeavour A Way of Life. Now the former actress presents her sophomore feature Belle – which we had the pleasure of discussing with her, at a special junket taking place at the film’s very setting, Kenwood House.

She tells us about bringing such a powerful tale to the costume drama genre, and the recent, somewhat positive shift that is now seeing more black protagonists at the heart of their own tales. Finally, given this film is based primarily around a famous painting, we ask Amma if there are any other paintings she would love to explore the back story to on screen.

Belle is released on June 13th.