Tag: Dido Elizabeth Belle

  • Dido Belle: Britain’s first black aristocrat The Telegraph 2016-07-06 Nisha Lilia Diu Amma Asante’s award-winning film Belle arrives on Netflix today. In this feature, first published in June 2014, Nisha Lilia Diu reveals the true story that inspired it The amazing thing about Dido Elizabeth Belle is not that she was mixed-race. Who knows how…

  • Belle: A Film That Defied Expectations The Root 2014-08-24 Julie Walker The film’s star and director talked to The Root about how an inspirational character helped shaped the movie, which is now out on DVD. Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who stars in the movie Belle—now out on DVD—grew up in England watching Jane Austen films but…

  • Thanks, Belle, it’s nice to see a face like mine on screen The Guardian (The Observer) 2014-06-07 Ashley Clark In giving top billing to Gugu Mbatha-Raw, the film Belle makes a real contribution to raising awareness of the mixed-race experience My heart leaps whenever I see the poster for Amma Asante’s new film, Belle, high…

  • ‘Belle’: Romance, Race And Slavery With Jane Austen Style National Public Radio Tell Me More 2014-05-29 Michel Martin, Host British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw was brought up on Jane Austen adaptations. “You know, the Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle was something I watched on a weekly basis with my mum at home…

  • Can ‘Belle’ End Hollywood’s Obsession with the White Savior? The Daily Beast 2014-05-04 Keli Goff The black characters in films like ‘The Help’ and ’12 Years A Slave’ always seem to need a white knight. But the black protagonist in ‘Belle,’ a new film about racism and slavery in England, takes matters into her own…

  • Portrait of the mystery lady: The incredible story behind the 18th-century painting that inspired a new movie The Daily Mail 2014-05-03 Paula Bryne Attributed to Johann Zoffany (circa 1778) Until recently, little was known about the mixed-race girl in an 18th-century painting associated with Kenwood House in London. But a new book and film reveal…

  • To the Manner Born? The New York Times 2014-05-01 Manohla Dargis ‘Belle’ Centers On a Biracial Aristocrat in the 18th Century No bodices seem to have been harmed, much less ripped, during the making of “Belle,” a period film at once sweeping and intimate, about an 18th-century Englishwoman who transcends her historical moment. Even so,…

  • The story behind Dido Belle – the bi-racial Londoner who helped end slavery in Britain London Evening Standard 2014-01-08 Susannah Butter Susannah Butter tells the tale of Dido Belle, ahead of the release of a film about her extraordinary life starring Tom Felton and Miranda Richardson. Among the many aristocratic faces gazing out of frames…

  • Belle: Toronto Review The Hollywood Reporter 2013-09-12 John DeFore The true story of a mixed-race child raised by British aristocrats is lightly fictionalized by Amma Asante. TORONTO — Hoping to use some Jane Austen-style courtship anxiety to lend drama to an episode in 18th-century English history that is novel enough on its own, Amma Asante’s…

  • Belle [World Premiere] Toronto International Film Festival 2013 TIFF Bell Lightbox Reitman Square 350 King Street West Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2013-09-05 through 2013-09-15 Film Information: Directed by Amma Asante 2013 105 minutes Gugu Mbatha-Raw takes the title role alongside Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Emily Watson and Canada’s Sarah Gadon in the true story of Dido…