Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's 'Farming' Lands Sizable International Deal After Its World Premiere at TIFF
The intense film from the Nigerian-British actor-turned-director and writer will soon appear on big screens around the world.
Farming was one of the films from Africa and the diaspora to watch at this year's Toronto International Film Festival and it's now the second from that crop to land an international deal.
Directed by Nigerian-British actor-turned-director/writer Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Lionsgate UK acquired the UK rights to the film with HanWay Films. The distribution entity is also handling sales and closing deals in France, the Benelux region, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, South Korea, China, Greece, Portugal, Singapore, Turkey and more, Deadlinereports. WME Endeavor Content will oversee the film's U.S. sale with HanWay and CAA.
Farming draws from Akinnuoye-Agbaje's own life his for his directorial debut, telling the story about Enitan (Damson Idris), a London-born Nigerian child who was intentionally placed in a white working-class home as part of a 1960s social experiment in hopes of giving him a brighter future. Enitan floats between cultures, where he ends up hanging with the wrong crowd becoming a leader of white skinhead gang.
Watch the clip from Farming below.
"The film happened when it was actually meant to in society. Now we're in a time when diverse voices have a platform. I think the film has been made at the right time…for a voice of this nature to be heard," Akinnuoye-Agbaje tells Variety. "I'm hoping that what this film does is really create an opportunity for us as a people, but also as a nation, to reevaluate its relationship with its black immigrant population."
Farming also stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Akinnuoye-Agbaje himself, Genevieve Nnaji, Zephan Amissah, Kate Beckinsale, and John Dagleish. Members of the cast talk more in-depth about the film at TIFF with The Hollywood Reporter below.