tavis: good evening from los angeles. tonight, a conversation with amma asante, director of the movie "belle." it roots a romantic story in the realities of the slave trade. this is a very impressive movie that i think you will want to see. we are glad you joined us for this conversation about the new movie, amma asante -- the new movie, "belle" coming up right now. ♪

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: all too often in movies, britain is depicted in gent heal terms. a new film titled "belle" is taking a different approach to show how that wealth and elegance were paid for by the slave trade. "belle" is directed by amma asante won an award for most promising newcomer for a first film in 2005. it took almost a decade for her to find another film that she wanted to make. let's look at a scene from

"belle" which has just opened in limited release. >> we are to attend london for the season. .e are to finally come out >> elizabeth is to come out. you understand the ways of the world for a female. elizabeth has no income. >> you are to meet as many gentlemen as possible. >> when all this is gone to her father, there will nothing be left for her. >> any gentle man of good breeding would be unlikely to form a serious attachment. a man without would lower her position in society. >> she is not merely my cousin. she is my sister. >> these are the keys of the house. they have hung at the waste of your aunt for the last 30 years. >> i am not an unwanted made.

>> lady mary is too old to continue in charge of the house. the studio was nice to me to send a copy of a screener that i can pop in at the home or office if i want to avoid the crowd. i really wanted to see this in a theater. i went to the arc light to see this and i was just blown away by the interactive relationship that this crowd had with the film. i am used to that when i go to the black movie theaters because we are very expressive. white folk are usually more well behaved. i was just blown away by the applause, the tears. the audience was totally into this. nte has ms. asa something on her hands. it was a beautiful film. >> thank you so much. for me, i always have approached film in the sense that it should be a conversation with the audience.

for it to be alive, there is a screenplay and there is a movie. the movie is a completely different animal. for me, a movie doesn't become one until it meets its audience. if no one ever sees it, what is it? i created it to be a conversation with the audience. tavis: it was in the theater i went to. i saw those opening numbers. per screen, you beat spiderman. that is a big deal. >> that is my claim to fame. that was incredible. we did everything we could. we have a lot of people in the community who were out there. i call them "belle" ambassadors. they were out there spreading the word. we had a lot of private screenings as well. we had an incredible screening. the naacp did an incredible screening.

that was interactive. tavis: i can imagine. >> it was wonderful to hear that kind of reaction from the audience. i think it has been working. the word is spreading. people are taking their moms and sisters. guys are being dragged to the cinema, thinking, i didn't think that was the movie for me and yet it was. i have a hash tag on twitter which is change the game. we can change the game with this movie. if we don't support movies like this, we won't see more of them. tavis: when you say change the game, what do you mean? >> i wanted to prove that with a period drama, i could put a female of color and the lead and it would be a box office success. people would go out and see a movie. constantly, we are told as filmmakers, writers and directors, it is difficult to sell a black female lead around the world. there are some territories that

aren't so keen on it. i wanted to show that a female director and also, even more so, a female at front and center of the piece could appeal to audiences across the board. tavis: what do you make of the fact that this is a project -- it is a project that has black women at the epicenter of it? a black woman directing, black woman writing, black woman starring in it. yet it is being met with wonderful applause and critique and appeal for the audience. what do you make of that or more importantly, what does hollywood make of that? >> i think hollywood needs to stop and listen. stop and listen and take a look. i knew that if i got this right, if i could get the story right, if i could get it across the way it needed to be and get the right actress, i always had the

belief that it could do this. both as a woman filmmaker and as a filmmaker of color, i always believed it. i knew i was putting together something that was important, if i could get it right, what i make of it is, we can do it. we can find those financiers who will put money into the one-off black movie. but ultimately, we can keep giving, keep giving, keep giving, but if hollywood won't support and if audiences won't go see the movie, we are banging our heads against the wall. i always say it is a collaboration. it is a large community thing. we all have our part to play. hollywood has to be brave. audiences have to say, i am going to support this while it is in theaters. we, the women of color and female directors, have to keep pushing.

tavis: i jumped in so fast because i know the story. i saw the movie. i jumped in so quick, applauding you and your efforts. i want to talk about the cast in a second here. we should probably back up for those who haven't seen this and ask a bit about what the story is. what is the story of "belle?" >> this is a story of a biracial girl who is born a product of a west african slave woman and a british naval officer. when he finds her mother aboard a captured spanish slave ship, she is born of this union. she is adopted into her father's family, who are one of the wealthiest families in england. her father is the highest judge in the land.

next to the king he is the most powerful man in england. he and his wife choose to raise this biracial girl as a lady, as an aristocrat. it is a love story, a romantic love story based on a true story. it is a sweeping love story about how she comes to meet the man she will eventually marry. it is also a paternal love story. it is a love story between father and daughter and how this adoptive father makes the choice at a time when it was unheard of, to love this biracial child. underneath, it is a story that i created to have some hefty themes. it is inspired by a painting where lord mansfield decided to immortalize her for ever and a portrait where she stands next to her white cousin has an equal. tavis: there it is on screen. that is a great portrait.

>> a painting like this where a black person and white person are treated as equals in this period is unheard of. when i looked at that painting, what i saw was a combination of politics, art history, and race. and then the sub themes of gender, equality, identity, all of those come to play in what on the surface is a very simple story. the backdrop is the important thing. these two love stories, both romantic and paternal. this seminal case, a case which comes from the slave trade, a case in which over 100 slaves are thrown overboard and drowned for the insurance money. you could do that in 18th century england. you could drown your cargo -- and we were cargo. the question was, was there a reason?

you had to have a legal reason to do so. if they were endangering the ship in some way. the question running through the movie is, was it legal for this captain to drown these slaves? this case comes to lord mansfield. however he decides is going to make a big difference in the slave trade in england. the question is, is this child of color that he is bringing up going to have any impact on his decision? here is what i think the movie brings that is different. we knew you could make money out of selling human beings. what i didn't know until i started my research and started to learn about lord mansfield was that you could make money out of killing people. you could make money out of killing black people. this is what is new that the story brings. tavis: there are so many things that are amazing about this. one of the things is that the

treatment that you give as the screenplay for this, it is not proselytizing in any way and yet those hefty issues come to bear. you feel it when you see the film not because it was preached to you. that is difficult to do with these kinds of issues. >> for me, it was always a balance. what i have always understood from film and the reason why i wanted to be a filmmaker, the reason why i hung in there over those 10 years, was that i have always felt that film can open the eyes of audiences in the way that sometimes newspaper can't. you can get people to think. for me, what it was about was getting people to ask themselves the questions.

ask the questions rather than giving a message. when you give a message, it can sometimes be offputting. there is a time and a place for giving a message. for me, because i wanted this to appeal to everybody, in many ways this is also a good part about history. she was a very important member of the family but she wasn't an equal mental -- member of the family. what she had to do was show people the right way to love her. when you bring people into a story in a way that you are not blaming, you are saying, explore feel --h me, people there is less guilt. guiltk when there is less , it is more open. how one could see this and not come down on the right side of the moral question --

and i am rooting for lord mansfield because i want him to , becausedecision right it makes a statement on so many levels. his relationship with dido, with his family, with the world, with his country -- >> it is micro and macro. the very important climax of the movie actually involves all three of the main characters. , didomantic lovers herself and her father. we had to shoot that eight hours after my own father died. for me, while everybody was telling me this must be a love story, i said it must be a paternal love story too. i wanted to pay a much -- homa ge to my own father.

he died in my arms and eight hours later i am shooting the scenes. the ground is still moving underneath me. it is a different world for me. i am doing this through tears. what it meant was that we all came together in knowing that moment when lord mansfield is about to make his decision, that this apart from being this macro decision that is going to affect the world, has to be a decision that is also about this father who is trying to just -- he is just a man trying to raise his daughter, and trying to navigate her through her upbringing. about, is he going to give this gift of validity to his child or is he not? i am honoring my own father in that moment. it was a cathartic moment for me. tavis: what pushes you eight

hours after your father dies in your arms to continue filming? why go ahead? >> because my father was an accountant. i have no member of my family that is in this industry. it was my father who recognized my creative bones, the cake guys that i had a skill for writing and encouraged me to be in this difficult industry. i rarely see anybody who is my skin tone or my shape. to be the tenacious woman that i am today is all because of him. i would be nothing without him. , i jumped onovie board this project to create the story and the world that you see on screen because i was trying to make the movie that i thought my dad would pay to see. my dad would want to sit in the cinema. he never got a chance to see it.

thatt that if i gave in at point -- he at one point said to me, i am not going to go into the ground until i see this movie. at that point, i knew he couldn't hold out. i thought somehow he has to see this movie. if i don't finish -- he would have been saying to me, you have to do it. like mer, she won't telling her age, but she is in her late 40's and my brother is in his early 50's. they came home, they slept in my home and said they were doing it so that i could wake up in the morning and have the force of my father to send me out to work. when i came home that night, they were there. i don't remember how i shot those scenes. i just know i did. i remember tom wilkinson taking my face in his hands and saying, it feels like you won't get through this but you will.

i thought i was going to die that day. tavis: you had your own family love story. it is surreal to have your own family love story embracing you while you are filming the same thing with dido's family. speaking of tom wilkinson, i have only met him once but i have great respect for his acting chops. even more so, the choices that he makes, what he will play in. he killed it in this film. tom wilkinson is amazing. >> this man that he plays is so conflicted. this man is sitting there with one foot firmly in the now, and the status quo, the fear of change, but he has this other foot so firmly in being a progressive man. being a man ahead of his time. these two parts of him are conflicted. he is this man, the highest

judge in the land, he has got these big cases to preside over but he is also a man. he is just a father. kudos to the man. i was blessed to be able to get him to do this movie. for him, what was important was that he was a part of telling the story. for folks who are in the entertainment business, they will remember him from another -- a number of different things. there was a moment where my series that tv starred her and boris, for all the brilliant stuff jj has done, it just didn't get liftoff. i was thinking as i walked out of the theater about how timing is everything.

she tried the series, it didn't work, but this movie comes along -- >> it was waiting for her. i believe this history was waiting for her, waiting for me. i think it was a formidable collaboration. i enjoyed every minute but i was exhausted. what keeps you going when your father has just died? it is the talent of these people. -- my production designer, my cinematographer, we were filming this on the tiniest budget. their work, their blood, their sweat had to be seen. she has to be so complex, there is so much going on in her eyes. she is the child of a slave, an aristocrat, this child of a white person, a black person, she has to be so many things.

she has to express to us her journey from girl to woman, her journey towards political awakening, and her journey of finding self-love. she has got to do it all in the eyes, all in the face. nobody else on screen who reflects who she is. it was tough but she is smart. tavis: she pulled it off. i don't mean to suggest by this question that everything that a black filmmaker does has to be socially redemptive. one of the greatest songs ever written was a song called " what's going on?" by marvin gaye. on."so sang "let's get it it is not lost on me that steve mcqueen brings us "12 years a slave." you both bring that funny accent. [laughter]

>> my accent? tavis: is there something in the water that you are drinking in the u.k.? what is happening that these films are coming from the other side of the pond? >> i think we have been starved of the opportunity to tell our story. i know that with "12 years a slave" there was some talk about steve being british and this being an american story. in britain, we just think of ourselves as black folk. we don't have so much of that division of african-american and african britts. world wehe area of the were in was starving us of being able to tell our stories. we are finally getting the opportunity. i think the first thing we want to do is tell the stories that are about us and the things we feel, the things we have emotion about, before we tell our

comedies and all the other stuff. we want to get to the stuff that is gritty and in our hearts. i wanted to tell a sweeping love story as much as i wanted to put a female of color front and center in a story that surrounds the part of the world i live in in terms of the slave trade financing the society. i could never tell that sweeping love story from that. if i wasn't going to also talk about the economy. starved andave been we are finally getting the chance. you might see more of this from us. for each one that is out there, it is opening the door for the next one, i hope. we are hungry. we are hungry to tell our story. tavis: you told this one brilliantly. i don't know how you top this. [laughter] >> thank you. tavis: you are still young and i

am glad you are talented. you have a lot of work to do to do better than you did here. studio --out of the out of the movie theater i should say. >> you can't be complacent. you must never rest on your laurels and i am not going to. tavis: it is a powerful project. it is called "belle." with all due respect to siskel and ebert, two thumbs up. it is a powerful film that i think will move you at the deepest level. if your heartstrings have not been pulled, then check your pulse. the director of this film is amma asante and the film is called "belle." it is a name that i think you will remember. congratulations on all the success that is to come. good to have you here. that is our show for tonight. thanks for watching and as always, keep the faith.

>> it came into my head that i have been blessed. >> i suppose you have. marry? not a lady who is she without a husband of consequence? it seems silly. begs. negro who unless she marries her equal, her true equal. a man who respects her. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with ralph nader about his new book, unstoppable. that is next time. we will see you then.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be

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