Belle (2013 film)

Belle
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Amma Asante
Written by	Misan Sagay
Produced by	Damian Jones
Starring	Gugu Mbatha-Raw Tom Wilkinson Sam Reid Sarah Gadon Miranda Richardson Penelope Wilton Tom Felton James Norton Matthew Goode Emily Watson
Cinematography	Ben Smithard
Edited by	Pia Di Ciaula Victoria Boydell
Music by	Rachel Portman
Production companies	DJ Films TSG Entertainment Pinewood Pictures BFI
Distributed by	Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates	8 September 2013 (2013-09-08) (TIFF) 2 May 2014 (2014-05-02) (United States) 13 June 2014 (2014-06-13) (United Kingdom)
Running time	104 minutes[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$10.9 million
Box office	$16.5 million[2]

Belle is a 2013 British period drama film directed by Amma Asante, written by Misan Sagay and produced by Damian Jones. It stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Sam Reid, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson, Sarah Gadon, Tom Felton, and James Norton.^[3][4]

The film is loosely inspired by the 1779 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle beside her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray at Kenwood House, which was commissioned by their great-uncle, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, then Lord Chief Justice of England. Very little is known about the life of Dido Belle, who was born in the West Indies and was the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of Mansfield's nephew, Sir John Lindsay. She is found living in poverty by her father and entrusted to the care of Mansfield and his wife. The fictionalised story centres on Dido's relationship with an aspiring lawyer; it is set at a time of legal significance, as a court case is heard on what became known as the Zong massacre, when slaves were thrown overboard from a slave ship and the owner filed with his insurance company for the losses. Lord Mansfield ruled on this case in England's Court of King's Bench in 1786, in a decision seen to contribute to the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807.