Global Bulletin: Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ Sells Across the World

Jill Goldsmith Co-Business EditorAs the exhibition industry teeters, global cinema owners beseeched New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to reopen theaters in areas of the state with low infection rates. The response was not promising.The executive committee of the Global Cinema Federation — led by Alejandro Ramirez Magaña, CEO of Cinépolis, in a letter to the governor Wednesday, praised the state’s progress in combating COVID and listed steps exhibitors have taken to keep patrons and staff safe.

With three weeks to go until Election Day, new public opinion polls in two key battleground states that President Trump flipped four years indicate that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden holds sizeable leads over the president. The New York Times surveys conducted by Siena College show the former vice president topping Trump 48%-40% among likely voters in Michigan, and Biden leading the president 51%-41% among likely voters in Wisconsin.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticIn “Red, White and Blue,” the fifth and final film of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology (and the third to be shown at this year’s New York Film Festival, after the lilting reggae house-party movie “Lovers Rock” and the wrenching social-protest courtroom drama “Mangrove”), Leroy Logan (John Boyega), a British research scientist, figures that he’s had enough of the lonely work of staring at tissue specimens through a microscope, so he decides to become a member

Todd McCarthy Red, White and Blue, the third and final installment of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe quintet of films about racial issues specific to Great Britain being world premiered at the New York Film Festival, zeroes in on the ordeal of a young black Londoner set on helping to definitively break the color barrier at London’s Metropolitan Police Force in the early 1980s.

One of the great joys of the New York Film Festival has been watching Steve McQueen’s new film anthology “Small Axe.” Composed of five works set between the late-’60s and early-’80s, the two recently screened films — “Lovers Rock” and “Mangrove” — are intimate slices of life of a little-represented community, British Black folks from the West Indies, resiliently thriving amidst a racially hostile environment.

One of the great joys of the New York Film Festival has been watching Steve McQueen’s new film anthology “Small Axe.” Composed of five works set between the late-’60s and early-’80s, the two recently screened films — “Lovers Rock” and “Mangrove” — are intimate slices of life of a little-represented community, British Black folks from the West Indies, resiliently thriving amidst a racially hostile environment.

NEW YORK -- In a movie year mostly lacking big, ambitious releases, Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology is an unqualified main event. While many other filmmakers are on hold, the “12 Years a Slave” director has raced to finish not one but five new films.The movies, spanning 1968 to 1985, are each individual stories about the West Indian community in London.

Jamie Lang In today’s Global bulletin, Cineflix Rights sells three series to Topic in North America, Paco Cabezas is picked to direct “The Gypsy Bride” in Spain, “The Investigation” premieres to year’s-best ratings in Denmark and Planet Nemo by Ankama sells two series to Discovery Kids in MENA.Cineflix Rights, the U.K.’s largest independent TV content distributor, has signed a deal with First Look Media’s platform Topic, sending three series to the North American streamer: “The Minister,” “Happ

Jake Kanter International TV EditorBBC Studios has closed a raft of global deals for Steve McQueen’s hotly-anticipated anthology drama Small Axe, which will premiere on BBC One in the UK and Amazon in the U.S.Australia’s Foxtel, France’s Salto, Spain’s Movistar+, Russia’s KinoPoisk, and Greece’s Cosmote TV are among the territories to have picked up the show.

Jamie Lang In today’s Global Bulletin, Fremantle passes 130 territories sold for Samuel L. Jackson’s “Enslaved,” Lineup Industries is set to license NHK’s formats slate, Red Sea International awards more than $1 million in grants, and Walter Presents nabs five Nordic series.Samuel L. Jackson’s Epix docuseries “Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade” will air in 130 territories after Fremantle closed deals including France’s Histoire TV, History in Germany and Movistar Plus

Todd McCarthy If Lovers Rock provided a sensuous, feel-good vibe to the opening night of this year’s unusual New York Film Festival, Mangrove supplies a follow-up thwack to the head and punch to the gut.

Naman Ramachandran Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language debut “The Human Voice” and British artist Steve McQueen’s “Lovers Rock” have been added to the British Film Institute London Film Festival.Almodovar’s short, loosely based on Jean Cocteau’s play, presents a woman on the edge portrayed by Tilda Swinton, who is waiting for her lover to call. It will play in the festival’s shorts program, and screen at BFI Southbank on Oct.

Naman Ramachandran Germany’s ZDF solves “The Puzzle Lady”; All3Media hires Mike Gould for digital partnerships; Lookout Point taps Pippa Brown for comedy; and Indian streamer Disney Plus Hotstar buys animated version of Bollywood “Dabangg” franchise.Germany’s ZDF Enterprises has partnered with new Canadian outfit December Films and the U.K.’s Factual Fiction (“Agatha and the Midnight Murders”) to develop mystery drama series, “The Puzzle Lady,” based on American author Parnell Hall’s

Also Read: 'One Night in Miami': Regina King Opens Up About Directing 4 Men Portraying Real-Life Icons (Video)Boyega and Wright’s entries were featured at this year’s New York Film Festival, which was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If you are the big tree, we are the small axe,” this is the Jamaican proverb that has inspired filmmaker Steve McQueen‘s, “Small Axe,” a collection of five films inspired by real-life events about ordinary people showing courage, belief, and resilience to overcome injustice and achieve something transformative in their West Indian community.

Earlier in the week, the 2020 incarnation of the New York Film Festival got underway officially, with one part of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, Lovers Rock, serving as the Opening Night Selection. Having seen it, the movie serves as both a strong start for NYFF this year, as well as a smaller and far less awards friendly selection.

 Alec Baldwin  might portray a politician on TV, but if his wife  Hilaria Baldwin  gets her way, he won’t ever run for office. The dad of six opened up about his political aspirations during an appearance on Rob Lowe’s Literally!  podcast.

Like most aspects of life, the New York Film Festival looks a little different this year, switching to a mostly virtual format in light of the pandemic.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticIn the most transporting scene of Steve McQueen’s “Lovers Rock,” we’re at a London house party that has just hit its smoky seductive dirty-dancing groove. It’s 1980, and most of the revelers have West Indian roots.