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Steve McQueen unveils an anthology of racism and resistance
NEW YORK – In a movie year mostly lacking big, ambitious releases, Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology is an unqualified main event. For the filmmaker of “Hunger,” “Shame” and “Widows,” “Small Axe” is a shattering masterwork — a compendium, both damning and celebratory, of Black resilience. The only fictional tale of the bunch, it brings to vivid, pulsating life a blues party from 1980, when young London Black people found refuge, and love, at house parties. Casting “Small Axe,” he has said, was easy because of all the untapped talent just in need of an opportunity. But if anyone expecting a neat arc to “Small Axe,” McQueen says that’s not its shape.
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Steve McQueen sets 3 premieres at New York Film Festival
This image released by the New York Film Festival shows a scene from Steve McQueens "Lovers Rock" which will premiere at the 58th New York Film Festival. (New York Film Festival via AP)Three original films by Oscar-winner Steve McQueen will debut at the New York Film Festival this year, organizers said Monday. Its an incredible honor and also very humbling to show three of my films at the New York Film Festival, McQueen said in a statement. Steve McQueen is one of the essential artists of our time, and he reaches a new level of mastery with the Small Axe films, said Dennis Lim, the festival's programming director. Dates haven't been set for the 58th edition of the New York Film Festival because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic but organizers say that specifics will be announced in the coming weeks.