*“12 Years A Slave” director Steve McQueen has announced that his next two projects are dedicated to George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.
The Oscar-winning director said of the two films, which have been announced as part of the Cannes Film Festival lineup, will address racism in the UK, per Deadline.
“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,” said McQueen.
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Two films by Steve McQueen in official selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival.
Mangrove and Lovers Rock, two films from the Small Axe anthology of stories, which @BBCStudios is distributing globally, have been selected by @Festival_Cannes. https://t.co/ENoIePq8Tn pic.twitter.com/QDKDSaiDKu
— BBC Studios (@bbcstudios) June 3, 2020
The films are part of McQueen’s British anthology series “Small Axe,” and are titled “Mangrove” and “Lovers Rock.”
Here’s more from Deadline:
Each film tells a different story, set within London’s West Indian community from the 1960s to the mid 1980s, whose lives have been shaped by their own force of will despite rampant racism and discrimination.
The first film, Mangrove, tells the true story of the Mangrove Nine and Frank Crichlow, starring Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Shaun Parkes (Lost In Space), and Malachi Kirby (Black Mirror). The second film, Lovers Rock, tells a fictional story of young love and music at a blues party in the early 1980s, starring Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II), Micheal Ward (Top Boy), Shaniqua Okwok (Van der Valk) and Kedar Williams-Stirling (Sex Education).
John Boyega is set to star in one of the anthology’s films, with more details forthcoming, the report states.
In related news, Boyega broke down in tears on Wednesday while speaking to thousands gathered in Hyde Park protesting against systemic racism, sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.
“Black lives have always mattered. We have always been important. We have always meant something. We have always succeeded regardless. And now is the time,” he said into a megaphone,. “I ain’t waiting. I ain’t waiting!”
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