A24 has unveiled the trailer for the thought-provoking documentaryOccupied Cityfrom Academy Award winning filmmakerSteve McQueen.As visuals of everyday life in Amsterdam flash on the screen– children skating, a game of chess, youth in school– we hear narrator Melanie Hyams speak of a different time. While using modern day footage,Occupied Citydetails happenings in the Netherlands capital from 1940 to 1945, chronicling the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam and the horrendous crimes against Jews that followed; during World War II, 60,000 Jewish citizens were murdered in Amsterdam. Check out the trailer forOccupied Citybelow.
Occupied Cityis a collaboration between the12 Years a Slavedirector and his partner,author and documentarian Bianca Stigter, inspired by her bookAtlas of an Occupied City (Amsterdam 1940-1945).Rather than relying on archival footage to tell this dark story of history’s past, McQueen gathered 36 hours of film collected over three years (including the pandemic) to contrast the present and the past.
The film’s synopsis reads:
“The past collides with our precarious present in Steve McQueen’s bravura documentary Occupied City, informed by the book Atlas of an Occupied City (Amsterdam 1940-1945) written by Bianca Stigter. McQueen creates two interlocking portraits: a door-to-door excavation of the Nazi occupation that still haunts his adopted City and a vivid journey through the last years of pandemic and protest. What emerges is both devastating and life-affirming, an expansive meditation on memory, time, and where we’re headed.”
Related:Here’s Every Movie Steve Mcqueen Has Directed, Ranked
Steve McQueen: Occupied City is ‘Extremely About the Present’
WhileOccupied Cityserves as a juxtaposition between the past and present and focuses on a harrowing time in history, the film is also telling about the present. According to McQueen, the four-hour documentary may serve as an eye-opening moment some viewers. He previously toldIndieWire:
“As much as it is about the past, this film is extremely about the present. Unfortunately, we never seem to learn from the past. Things sort of overtake us.” He continued: “With the rise of the far right being very vocal and given an actual platform, it’s being legitimized. I think when you get the images of what’s happening now and the actual stories of the past and put them together, it makes us question everything.”
McQueen, known for tackling heavy topics through film, is in post-production for his next project:Blitz,also centered around World War II. The Apple drama, starring Saoirse Ronan, is scheduled for a 2024 release.
McQueen is known for his work on films includingHunger, Shame, Widows, and12 Years a Slave, which earned him the Academy Award for Best Picture, the BAFTA Award for Best Film, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. In 2020, he releasedSmall Axe, a collection of five films based on the real-life experiences of London’s West Indian community between 1969 and 1982. The following year, he released the documentary seriesUprising, which told the story of threeintertwined events from 1981: the New Cross Fire, which killed 13 young black people; the Black People’s Day of Action; and the Brixton riots.
Occupied Citypremiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May andearned rave reviews. The four-hour documentary lands in theaters on Christmas.Occupied Cityis produced by Floor Onrust, McQueen, Anna Smith-Tenser, and Stigter.
