16.12.2025
Nigerian born British actor David Oyelowo and Ava DuVernay have teamed for “Heist of Benin,” more than a decade after their Academy Award-winning film “Selma.”
Oyelowo will star in the film, which is set in modern-day London and described as “a thriller that intertwines art, love and restitution.” DuVernay will direct from a screenplay by Jesse Quiñones, based on an original idea.
The project was announced on Tuesday during Canal+’s ORIGINAL+ presentation at the Olympic in Paris and marks the first feature film collaboration between DuVernay and Oyelowo since 2014’s “Selma.” In that film, Oyelowo portrayed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. amid the 1965 Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for best picture and won the Oscar for best original song.
“Ava and I have been looking for the right story to tell together again. ‘Heist of Benin’ is that story,” Oyelowo said in a statement announcing the film. “It’s thrilling and high-powered with deeply resonant themes that matter to us both.” VARIETY