'Boxing Day' is finally out and we couldn't be more excited! This film is Aml Ameen’s debut as a director, and he co-wrote the screenplay, which is inspired by his own life.
The ensemble cast includes Ameen, Aja Naomi King, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Tamara Lawrance, Sheyi Cole, Samson Kayo, Joshua Maloney, Lisa Davina Phillip, Claire Skinner, Stephen Dillane. As per the official start of production announcement, “Boxing Day is inspired by the diary of Ameen’s life and is a celebration of love and family through a black-British lens. The film follows Melvin (Aml Ameen), a British author living in America who returns home to London for Christmas to introduce his American fiancée Lisa (Aja Naomi King) to his eccentric British-Caribbean family. Their relationship is put to the test, as she discovers the world her fiancé has left behind”.
In an interview with Shadow & Act, Ameen said, "There’s never been anything done like that in the UK, that’s what the pursuit was about. For a lot of Black British people, we looked to America for many years to get the diversity of storytelling…I was a part of the franchise Kidulthood, and obviously, Top Boy, but that tells one side of our story, which is the streets more than anything. And for us, we grew up on The Best Man, The Wood, Love Jones, you know…all these different films, and now my film marks the entry point into that type of genre, and so it’s very monumental."
This is indeed monumental, and a true Black Excellence moment.
Check out the trailer below!