Amma Asante

Amma Asante grew up in Streatham in South London, and in 1980-86 attended the Barbara Speake Stage School where she studied dance and drama. She started her film and television career as a child star (e.g. the series "Grange Hill," "Desmonds" and "Birds of a Feather"), then began writing scripts in her twenties, mainly for Channel 4 television. At age 28, she became the first black woman in the UK to both write and "Brothers and Sisters" for BBC2. A Way of Life (2004) is her directorial debut. "I'm black and I'm a woman, and I can identify with other human beings," Asante says. "But for me to be able to identify with a character who was ultimately going to express quite racist views, the easiest way was to make her fairly young and make her a woman."

MFF Karlovy Vary