Small Axe Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Six slots and only one Emmys lock. Yep, the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie category is essentially wide open.

I was born with a speech impediment. For years, I received speech therapy in special education.

One of 2020’s few joys has been Steve McQueen’s Amazon anthology “Small Axe,” a series telling, in some instances for the first time, the stories of the Black Brits who faced oppression during the ’60s and ’70s. While “Mangrove” touted empowerment through self-representation, “Lovers Rock” through music, and “Red, White and Blue” through reform from within, “Alex Wheatle” calls for literature as a gateway to freedom.

This late fall has been a treat because we’ve received a new Steve McQueen (“12 Years A Slave,” “Widows“) week every week for the last three weeks; when does that happen? And they are all part of McQueen’s new five-film anthology series, “Small Axe,” based on the Jamaican proverb, “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.” Three films have debuted at the New York Film Festival earlier this fall, and those three have now aired on Amazon Prime Video.

It is a film or is it TV? That’s the micro-debate happening on Film Twitter right now over Steve McQueen‘s new project “Small Axe.” Often, these arguments are so byzantine, they’re not worth spending a breath on and we peace out on the whole topic and let others fight over it. But Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” seems simple: Yes, it’s premiering on Amazon Prime and yes, it’s vying for Emmy consideration in the end, not the Oscars.

John Boyega made headlines earlier this year with a powerful Black Lives Matter speech back in June, where he addressed concerns that speaking out may affect his career.

Yesterday, U.K. audiences got their first official taste of “Small Axe,” Steve McQueen‘s new film anthology series that 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.

Sure, the new trailer for “Small Axe” dubs the anthology as a “new series,” but this project from filmmaker Steve McQueen is no TV series. In fact, it’s a group of five feature films that can be viewed separately or together and paint the picture of life for a group of people in London’s West Indian community throughout the decades.

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.

A West Indian proverb holds, “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.” “Lovers Rock,” the first film made available of Steve McQueen’s Amazon miniseries “Small Axe,” first interpreted the saying as a metaphor for the joyous spirit in the Black British community. But his newest installment, “Mangrove” swings a different emphasis on the rebellious phrase.

Lovers Rock, another instalment in Sir Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, has been added to the line-up of the BFI London Film Festival.

A new trailer for a collection of films made by Steve McQueen gives a glimpse at the performances of Letitia Wright and John Boyega.

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.

Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen’s films rarely have a light touch. For example, “Hunger” recounts the life of IRA member Bobby Sands, and the group’s organized hunger strike; “Shame” depicts sex addiction; “12 Years a Slave” violently retells the story of a freed Black man kidnapped into slavery; and “Widows” explains the socio-political environment for women and Black people in Chicago.

Yep, festival season is a little weird this year, but if the currently-ongoing Venice Film Festival and just-started Toronto International Film Festival are any indication, the 58th New York Film Festival is going to be just as good, albeit enjoyed from a safe distance.

British filmmaker Steve McQueen took a long gap between 2013’s Oscar-winning “12 Years A Slave” and 2018’s “Widows” (possibly because of an HBO series he was meant to put on, but it eventually fell through). Fortunately, he’s already following up the underappreciated “Widows” with a new project and it’s an ambitious one.

British filmmaker Steve McQueen took a long gap between 2013’s Oscar-winning “12 Years A Slave” and 2018’s “Widows” (possibly because of an HBO series he was meant to put on, but it eventually fell through). Fortunately, he’s already following up the underappreciated “Widows” with a new project and it’s an ambitious one.