• Interviews

Freida Pinto on “Guerrilla’s” Topical Importance

The Anglo American co-production (Sky Atlantic and Showtime) is set in the turbulent seventies when the Black liberation movement was taking hold in London’s Notting Hill district. While the characters in the limited series directed by Golden Globe-nominated John Ridley, are fictitious, the resemblance to reality is not at all coincidental. Events depicted are based on those taking place at a time when the British Afro-Caribbean community mobilized against racism and discrimination. The struggle paralleled that of US movements like the Black Panthers and the Weathermen as well as urban guerrilla groups active on the Continent like the German RAF. The fictionalized version features Freida Pinto and Babou Ceesay as a couple caught up in the momentous political events and a supporting role by Globe winner Idris Elba. Pinto stopped by HFPA HQ recently and told us why the show on immigration-centered strife and xenophobia is particularly topical in this day and age.