Steve McQueen Highlights Necessary Histories with New Documentaries

September 25, 2021September 25, 2021 Jamal Michel

Director Steve McQueen’s newest Prime Video documentaries on West Indian and Caribbean life in 20^th century London are necessary viewing. In a style similar to Ava DuVernay’s 13^th, the Academy Award-winning director stitches together archival footage and thoughtful interviews that spotlight the violent history of some of London’s most vulnerable communities. Subnormal: A British Scandal, Black Power: A British Story of Resistance, and Uprising document the racially motivated atrocities that plagued black and brown neighborhoods across London in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, and captures the delicate maneuverings of McQueen’s cinematic eye.

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Sharlene Whyte Talks About the Significance of ‘Small Axe’ and Her Role in ‘Education’

December 17, 2020November 5, 2021 Jamal Michel

Amazon Prime Video has released the official trailer for Education, the fifth and final film in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology series. Small Axe premiered with Mangrove starring Letitia Wright and Shaun Parkes on November 20, followed by Lovers Rock on November 27 featuring Micheal Ward and Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn.

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NOC Interview: ‘Small Axe’ Star Kenyah Sandy Talks About His Lead Role

December 17, 2020May 15, 2021 Jamal Michel

Legendary director Steve McQueen’s Small Axe is an anthology series comprised of five original films set from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s that tell personal stories from London’s West Indian community, whose lives have been shaped by their own force of will despite rampant racism and discrimination. The title is derived from the African proverb, “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.”

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NOC Interview: ‘Small Axe’ Star Sheyi Cole Talks ‘Alex Wheatle’

December 9, 2020May 15, 2021 Jamal Michel

With his bold and multifaceted Small Axe anthology, Steve McQueen has made the films of the moment. Three of the five films — Lovers Rock, Mangrove, and Red, White and Blue — have premiered to a great reception at the NYFF. The films capture vividly the lives of London’s West Indian community in the 1970s and ’80s and their force of will against systemic racism and discrimination. “I dedicate these films to George Floyd, and all the other black people that have been murdered, seen or unseen, because of who they are, in the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere,” the director said in May.