Rome to open with Luc Besson’s Aung San Suu Kyi biopic The Lady

Luc Besson’s The Lady will open the sixth edition of the International Rome Film Festival (October 27 - November 4).

Europacrop’s biopic, presented out of competition, recounts the political and personal odyssey of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi (played by Michelle Yeoh), the Burmese pacifist and human rights activist who has battled the dictatorship in her country for decades and was forced to live virtually entirely under house arrest from 1989 to 2007, away from her husband and children.

“I am delighted and honored that The Lady has been selected to open the Rome International Film Festival, and that our European festival premiere will take place in a country and city that are dear to me,” said Besson. “I was deeply inspired and touched by Aung San Suu Kyi’s personal story and her ongoing fight for democracy, and hope that through this film her cause and voice will be better known and shared with audiences around the world”.

Besson will be in Rome to present the premiere with stars David Thewlis and Yeoh, the latter whom was banned from Burma for her role in the film.

The film will get its world premiere in Toronto.