Sam Adewunmi, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Denise Black
Written and directed by British filmmaker Shola Amoo (widely acclaimed for his 2016 multimedia debut A Moving Image), The Last Tree premiered at Sundance 2019 and tells the moving, heartfelt semi-autobiographical story of a young man carving out an identity for himself in early 21st century London.
Femi (as a child played by newcomer Tai Golding) is a British boy of Nigerian heritage who, after being fostered in rural Lincolnshire, moves to a diverse, deprived area of inner-city London to live with his birth mother, leading to a profound shift in his sense of self. In his teens, Femi (Sam Adewunmi) continues to struggle with the culture and values of his new environment and, finding out what it means to be a young black man in London during the early 00s, must decide which path to adulthood he will take.
Featuring stunning performances from an outstanding cast including Golding, Adewunmi, Denise Black and Nicholas Pinnock and offering a timely and profoundly compelling study of Britishness and young black masculinity, The Last Tree looks set to be one of the must-see releases of 2019.