''Farming'' is a 2018 British film written and directed by

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (, ; born 22 August 1967) is an English actor, director, and former fashion model known for his roles as Lock-Nah in ''The Mummy Returns'', Nykwana Wombosi in '' The Bourne Identity'', Heavy Duty in '' G.I. Joe: The R ...

, based on his own childhood. The plot is about a child whose Yorubá parents give him to a white working-class family in London in the 1980s, and who grows up to join a white skinhead gang led by a white supremacist. The film, which stars

Damson Idris Damson Idris (born 2 September 1991) is a British-Nigerian actor. He currently stars on John Singleton's crime drama ''Snowfall'', which debuted 5 July 2017 on FX. He played the co-lead in Netflix's sci-fi action film '' Outside the Wire'' (202 ...

Kate Beckinsale Kathrin Romany Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress and model. After some minor television roles, her film debut was ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993) while a student at the University of Oxford. She appeared in British costume ...

, John Dagleish,

Jaime Winstone Jaime Margaret Winstone (born 6 May 1985) is an English actress, best known for her roles in '' Kidulthood'', '' Dead Set'', '' After Hours'' and her portrayal of Barbara Windsor in ''Babs''. Early life and education Winstone was born in Camd ...

Genevieve Nnaji Genevieve Nnaji (; born on 3 May 1979) is a Nigerian actress, producer, and director. She won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 2005, making her the first actor to win the award. In 2011, she was honoured as a ...

, and

Gugu Mbatha-Raw Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha-Raw (; born 21 April 1983) is a British actress who is known for her performances on stage and screen. In 2017 she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama ...

, wrapped production in 2017. It premiered at the

2018 Toronto International Film Festival The 43rd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 6 to 16, 2018. In June 2018, the TIFF organizers announced a program to ensure that at least 20 percent of all film critics and journalists given press accreditation to ...

on 8 September and won the Michael Powell Award at the 2019 Edinburgh Film Festival. The film was released by Lionsgate on 11 October 2019 in the UK and by eOne on 25 October 2019 in the US.

Cast

as Enitan *

as Ingrid Carpenter *

as Femi * John Dagleish as Levi *

as Lynn *

as Tolu *

as Ms. Dapo *

Cosmo Jarvis Harrison Cosmo Krikoryan Jarvis (born 1 September 1989) is a British actor, musician, and filmmaker. In 2015, he auditioned and was cast to portray the character of Sebastian in William Oldroyd's debut feature film ''Lady Macbeth'' (2016). Ea ...

as Jonesy *

Ann Mitchell Ann Mitchell (born 22 April 1939) is a British stage and television actress. She came to prominence in the 1980s when she starred as Dolly Rawlins in the crime series ''Widows'' as well as the sequels '' Widows 2'' and ''She's Out'', all writte ...

as Hilda * Tom Canton as Bomber as * Theodore Barklem-Biggs as Scum

Release

''Farming'' premiered at the

on 8 September in the Discovery Section. The film won the Michael Powell Award at the 2019 Edinburgh Film Festival. On 17 September 2018, the film's distribution rights were purchased for several countries and regions: the United Kingdom, France,

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...

, Australia, New Zealand,

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, South Korea, China, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Montenegro, Singapore, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, and Turkey.

Lionsgate UK Lionsgate UK (formerly Redbus Film Distribution, and briefly known as Helkon SK between 2001 and 2003) is the British subsidiary of the Canadian-American film company, Lionsgate. Founded in 1997 by Simon Franks and Zygi Kamasa, the company have ...

released the film in the United Kingdom on 11 October 2019, followed by a United States release on 25 October.

Production

Production visited two

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

locations in Farming. At the first,

The Historic Dockyard Chatham ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, various areas such as at The Joiner’s Shop, House Carpenters Shop, and the rear of The Smithery, Ropery and Anchor Wharf were used. Production also visited a jewellery shop in Gillingham for some further scenes.

Reception

The review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported approval rating based on reviews, with an average score of . ''Screen Daily'' wrote of the film, “Actor turned director Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje makes an arresting feature debut with ''Farming''. Told with raw emotion and lurid violence, it transforms elements of his life story into a disturbing, eye-opening coming of age drama.”

References

External links