Last spring, news broke that Daniel Kaluuya (Black Panther, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) was directing a sci-fi drama for Netflix, titled The Kitchen, and we recently got our first look thanks to the film announcing that it will premiere at the 67th annual BFI London Film Festival this October.
The first newsbreak on the project stated that Daniel Kaluuya was developing the pic with Joe Murtagh (Gangs of London), Kibwe Tavares (Noughts + Crosses) and Daniel Emmerson (Calm with Horses). In the end, Kaluuya co-wrote the script with Murtagh and co-directed alongside Tavares.
The Kitchen is said to be set in a future where, "the gap between rich and poor has been stretched to its limits. All forms of social housing have been eradicated and only The Kitchen remains: a community that refuses to move out of the place they call home. The film follows Izi (Kane Robinson), who lives there by necessity and is desperately trying to find a way out, and 12-year-old Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman), who has lost his mother and is searching for a family, as they struggle to forge a relationship in a system that is stacked against them."
In a joint statement, Kaluuya and Tavares highlighted the film's amazing leads.
"Starting a decade ago as a workshop in a local barbershop, the film’s journey from script to screen has been a continued collaboration between us, and the community of cast and crew that came to make up our ‘Kitchen,’ including our two amazing leads Kane Robinson and Jedaiah Bannerman, whose performances anchor the heart of our story. Together we have aimed to make something fresh, thoughtful and cinematic — an allegory and homage to the residents of ‘The Kitchen’ in every city in the world."
Prior reports on the project indicate that the film is set in 2040 and involves a heist gone wrong.
Kaluuya previously told What To Watch, "The idea came from when I was sitting in my barber’s shop listening to a boy boasting about doing these million-pound heists. I dug into it a bit deeper and then I saw that these kids are doing it for £200. They were robbing millions of pounds of jewels for £200. That says something profound about where we’re at at the moment in this city."
The film will receive a theatrical run in the UK before releasing worldwide on Netflix.
The cast includes Kane Robinson, Jedaiah Bannerman, Hope Ikpoku Jr, Teija Kabs, Demmy Ladipo, Cristale, and BackRoad Gee.
Michael Fassbender is an executive producer.