Small Axe started as a TV series. But as I developed it, I came to realize that these stories needed to be stand-alone films. For me, they became individual stories. But obviously they’re linked, and the connective tissue is the Black British experience, the Black Indian experience. These are historical pieces that we need to come to light…

We’re missing two generations or so of Black artists in the UK because that industry was not welcoming to Black people. There’s a hole in our narrative. These stories shaped the history of the UK. So it’s no small feat in what the West Indian population has done in the UK and the Black population has done in the UK. — Steve McQueen

MANGROVE—the highly acclaimed first of five Small Axe films—is streaming now. See link below.

MANGROVE

Small Axe, Episode 1.

Amazon Original

Now streaming.

Steve McQueen, Mangrove (2020), from top: Letitia Wright; Shaun Parkes and Wright; Rochenda Sandall; Llewella Gideon (far left in blue dress) Parkes (on her right), Michelle Greenidge (in green dress), Darren Braithwaite (right of Greenidge), Wright (center of banner), Malachi Kirby (with megaphone), Gershwyn Eustache, Jr. (right, with glasses), and Sandall (far right, holding pig’s head); Kirby; Kirby (from left), Richie Campbell, Wright, Braithwaite, Nathaniel Martello White, Parkes, Eustache, and Sandall. Images photographed by Des Willie and Kieron McCarron (below), courtesy and © McQueen Limited, the BBC, and Amazon Prime Video.