First Clip Of Refugee Story Starring Dakota Fanning As Brit Raised Muslim In Africa

[Recursion]

I just... I mean... just...

https://deadline.com/video/dakota-fanning-sweetness-belly-toronto-film-festival-clip/

I had to read it three times to convince myself this wasn't satire

“You are full of surprises,” Wunmi Mosaku’s (Lovecraft Country) character tells Dakota Fanning’s Lilly in the first clip of their Toronto Film Festival-bound drama Sweetness In the Belly, which itself has an intriguing premise.

Unspooling in the festival’s Discovery strand, Fanning stars as Lilly Abdal, who was orphaned in Africa as a child (of English parents) and escaped to the UK as a refugee, fleeing civil war in Ethiopia. In London, she embraces the Muslim immigrant community, attempting to reunite people with their scattered families. However, her mission isn’t purely selfless: a passionate lost love affair is revealed between her and an idealistic doctor.

Zee Mehari’s (Difret) feature, also starring Yahya Abdul Mateen – II, Kunal Nayyar and Peter Bankole, is based on the fiction novel by Camilla Gibb and is adapted for the screen by Laura Phillips (Combat Hospital). Director Mehari is Ethiopian and the actors speak a combination of English, Amharic and Arabic in the film.

Pic was developed by Sienna Films and is produced by Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny (How She Move) together with Alan Moloney (Brooklyn) and Susan Mullen (Brooklyn) of Parallel Films. Mehret Mandefro (Difret) and Adrian Sturges (The Enfield Haunting) are executive producers along with Laura Bickford (Traffic) and Fiona Druckenmiller (Beasts of No Nation).

I just... I mean...

There are white refugees. I know some Bosnians who are living in Roanoke, VA, under a decades-old resettlement agreement. That could be an awesome movie. Why tell this story?

[irisblue]

2. This is going to be an interesting movie

Tiana Lowe (@TianaTheFirst) Tweeted:
Deadline described her character as a "white Ethiopian Muslim" because she's an ethnic Brit orphaned as a baby in Africa and naturalized as an Ethiopian, and they knew the former description would garner more views #SavedYouAnOutrageClick https://t.co/9crYT0uTdL

Link to tweet

[Recursion]

3. We'll see...

It's a concept I'm willing to listen to. But holy crap is it right on the edge.

[The Polack MSgt]

4. The miraculous Whiteness of Being?

I agree with this:
There are white refugees. I know some Bosnians who are living in Roanoke, VA, under a decades-old resettlement agreement. That could be an awesome movie. Why tell this story?

I believe that most studios think that a white lead is mandatory for mass appeal... I mean. I guess that's what drives these decisions. But this is like "Blindside" writ large.

Take a black story and make it taste white?

Can't understand it

[Recursion]

5. RIght?

Take a black story and make it taste white?

Right?