Angelina Jolie on Donald Trump: "The American people are bigger than any president"

The actress recently wrote a piece for the New York Times in response to US President Donald Trump's immigration ban, calling for America to make policy based on fact rather than fear.

Following up on her piece, Jolie told the BBC: "The American people are bigger than any president. I suppose I have faith in my country and in what it is founded on and the values we hold dear.

"I believe that many of the things that we're hearing, that we feel, are based on a sense of spreading fear or hate or dividing people by race or judgement is un-American.

"At this time I think what is amazing is we are seeing people around the world start to speak out for their civil liberties and rights and what they feel. In America, we are hearing people say 'this is un-American to me, this is unconstitutional to me. And this is who I am'."

Jolie shared these views while promoting her new film First They Killed My Father. The movie, which she directed, is a true-life account of the Khmer Rouge genocide through the eyes of a child.

She said she hoped the film would help Cambodians to speak more openly about the trauma of the regime led by Pol Pot, which ran from 1975 to 1979 and cost the lives of an estimated two million people.

The actress also spoke for the first time about her divorce from Brad Pitt in September last year.

"It was very difficult," Jolie said. "Many people find themselves in this situation. My whole family have all been through a difficult time. My focus is my children, our children.

"We are and forever will be a family and so that is how I am coping. I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer."

First They Killed My Father will be released on Netflix later this year