The Film Club: Steve McQueen

Memory, time, future. The past collides with the evasive present in director Steve McQueen’s extensive excavation of the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. From door to door, the camera wanders through streets that still bear traces of persecution as well as resistance, reflecting the function of the places today. The result is as crushing as it is life-affirming, a meditation on memories, the city as a meeting place and where we are heading in the future.

The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Steve McQueen, professor and artist Petra Bauer, professor Emile Schrijver and artist Salad Hilowle, moderated by Rebecka Katz Thor, Ph.D., researcher and lecturer.

“Occupied City” is based on the book “Atlas van een bezette stad: Amsterdam 1940–1945” by Bianca Stigter. The film premieres in Sweden on November 22. During the autumn, Steve McQueen will be awarded the Rolf Schock prize in the visual arts 2024 at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm.

Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen is a British artist, film director and screenwriter. McQueen represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2009 and his work has been shown at, among others, Tate Modern and Tate Britain in London, and MoMA and The Whitney Museum in New York. He has been awarded the Turner Prize, among others, and been appointed several grades in the Order of the British Empire (KBE, CBE, OBE). McQueen was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2020.

McQueen is one of the most prominent film directors of our time, with films such as “Hunger” (2008), “Shame” (2011) and “12 Years a Slave” (2013). His films have received several of the world’s most important film awards, such as the Caméra d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival for “Hunger” in 2008, the Academy Award in the category Best Picture and the Golden Globe Award for “12 Years a Slave” in 2014, and the European Film Award for innovative storytelling for “Small Axe” in 2021.