Amazon Prime Video has released an official trailer for the BBC documentary series from Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen. The series is set to premiere on Friday, September 17 on the streaming service.
Directed by McQueen along with James Rogan, Uprising is a vivid three-part documentary series (comprised of three hour-long episodes) that examines the New Cross Fire that killed 13 Black youths, the Black People’s Day of Action, which boosted more than 20,000 as the first organized mass protest by Black British people, and the Brixton riots. Uprising will “reveal how these three events are intertwined, and how, in the process, race relations were defined for a generation” according to the press release.
Directed by George Amponsah, Black Power: A British Story of Resistance tells the story of how the Black Power movement spread to Britain. Featuring archival footage of Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Malcolm X’s work in the U.K., as well as footage of Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Darcus Howe, and Roy Sawh, who were key Black leaders in the U.K.The film details the beginnings of the Black Power movement in the U.K. and the fight for freedom for Black citizens in the U.K.
Subnormal: A British Scandal, directed by Lyttanya Shannon, tells the story of Black children during the 1960s and ’70s who were sent to schools that were labeled “educationally subnormal.” The controversial decision would become one of the biggest scandals in the history of the British educational system. The documentary examines the racialized rhetoric that led to the scandal, how Black children and their parents were affected and the educators and activists who fought to transform against the system.
All three documentaries explore key themes of the Black British Diaspora that are depicted in Steve McQueen’s award-winning Small Axe anthology. Each documentary features first-hand interviews with key figures who give eyewitness accounts and never-before-heard details of the events and many are telling their stories for the first time on film.
McQueen is an executive producer on all three documentaries alongside James Rogan, Tracey Scoffield, and Soleta Rogan.
