Steve McQueen Dedicates His Two Films Selected At Cannes To George Floyd

The Oscar-winning director and Turner Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave, Hunger, Widows) has dedicated two of his films, chosen by the Cannes Film Festival for their Official Selection 2020, to George Floyd.

Steve McQueen says: “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. ‘If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.’ Black Lives Matter.”

The two films selected by the Cannes Film Festival are Mangrove and Lovers Rock. Although the festival did not take place this year due to the coronavirus outbreak, the films selected will be branded with Cannes' Official Selection 2020 label, in the hope to boost the films' credentials. The last time McQueen was at Cannes, he won the Caméra d'Or for his film Hunger back in 2008.

McQueen's two films Mangrove and Lovers Rock form part of a BBC commissioned anthology of five stories, called Small Axe, created by McQueen himself. The five films tell different personal stories of the West Indian community in London in the late-1960s to mid-1980s. The title, Small Axe, is derived from an African proverb, popularised by Bob Marley in The Wailers' song Small Axe, from the album Burnin' (1973): "if you are the big tree, we are the small axe."

Mangrove stars Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Shaun Parkes (Lost In Space) and Malachi Kirby (Curfew), and tells the true story of the Mangrove 9, a group of British black activists who were tried in 1970 for inciting a riot at a protest in West London. The Mangrove Nine trial exposed the heavy-handed tactics and racism of the police. The film was co-written by Alastair Siddons and Steve McQueen.

Lovers Rock stars Micheal Ward (Blue Story) and Amarah-Jae St Aubyn in her screen debut, in a fictional story of young love in the early 1980s. The film was co-written by Courttia Newland and Steve McQueen.

Small Axe was initially hour-long stories, but have been extended into feature length films. Both Mangrove and Lovers Rock were produced as feature length films, in collaboration with BBC Films, which made them eligible for the Cannes Film Festival. It is quite exceptional for one director to have two of his films selected by the festival in the same year. Charlotte Moore, BBC director of Content, says: "It's a testament to Steve McQueen's peerless talent as a director that these two outstanding films from the BBC's upcoming drama anthology Small Axe have been recognized by the Cannes Film Festival in this way. Small Axe is an extraordinary and visceral piece of work and we are so privileged to have Steve on the BBC and help him bring these stories to as big an audience as possible."

The titles for the other three films of Small Axe are Alex Wheatle, Education and Red, White and Blue. Alex Wheatle is a writing consultant to the series. John Boyega (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) will also star in the series, according to the BBC.

Steve McQueen said about Small Axe: “I felt these stories needed to be shared. I wanted to re-live, re-evaluate and investigate the journeys that my parents and the first generation of West Indians went on to deliver me here today calling myself a Black British person. What’s important about our stories is that they are local but at the same time global."

Each of the five films will have their premiere on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the U.K. later this year. Amazon Studios is co-producing within the U.S. BBC Studios is handling worldwide television sales.