“My Oscar is hidden. That’s how I start every day.”

2013 will be remembered as one of the best and most memorable years in Hollywood cinema. “Gravity,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “She,” “The Dallas Customer Club” and “American Dream,” all competed in that legendary awards season, but in the end the winner of the Oscar race was “12 Years of Slavery,” A film by British director Steve McQueen. The fact that Brad Pitt was one of the producers and actors also helped, not to mention the issues he dealt with: a black violinist who was invited to tour in one of the southern states and was sold into slavery.

The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, and in addition to the Best Picture award, it also won the screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong’o). Seven years later, McQueen is happy to share fond memories of that exciting and sparkling evening. “My Oscar experience was amazing!” Says McQueen, in a zoom interview I did with him this week from our home in Amsterdam. “Winning was a dream come true. The fact that we managed to make a film about slavery, and another film that no one wanted to touch from a shower because they thought he would not succeed, and in the end he also won at the box office and won an Oscar – was very exciting. The recognition we received was unprecedented.”

It annoyed me that Alfonso Cuarón (“Gravity”) snatched your figurine in the directing category.
“It pissed me off, too,” McQueen bursts out laughing. “It happens. There’s always the next time – at least I hope so. We’ll see what happens in the future.”

Where do you hold the Oscar statuette?
“I hide it. I really do not want to see it every day. I try to start every day with a new page.”

Despite the win, McQueen chose not to settle in Hollywood. He returned to live on the London-Amsterdam line (where he lived with his historic partner and cultural critic Bianca Stigter and their two children). In the seven years since winning the Oscar, McQueen has experienced quite a few difficulties – he tried to pick up a series for HBO but it was shelved after the pilot. The attempt to make another series for the BBC also failed. In 2018 he launched “Widows” – a suspense drama about four widows of criminals who decide to band together and commit robbery after the owners have left behind debts. The film received mixed reviews and box office success was minor.

“How’s my relationship now with Hollywood? Hollywood can be a great place to work with amazing people,” McQueen believes. “Ultimately, this is another industry that focuses on profit – although it also has room for creativity. Sometimes you win the lottery and your creativity matches what this industry wants and needs and sometimes not. Although there are some wonderful and hardworking people in Hollywood, when you want to tell your story and work with big minds More, you go elsewhere. “

In recent years McQueen, a member of a family of immigrants from the islands of Granada and Trinidad in the Caribbean, has indeed worked with great minds. He worked on an ambitious, stylish and meticulous venture, under the name “Little Ax” – an anthology of five films, dealing with the community of immigrants from the West Indies (Caribbean) in London in the 60s, 70s and early 80s. Some of the films, which remarkably and accurately recreate the past, rely on true stories, for example the story of the famous writer Alex Vital, who grew up in foster families and sat in jail. “The project was born out of a desire and need to revisit my past and the experiences of West Indies in the UK,” says McQueen.

Why did you call the project “Little Ax”?
“This is a quote that comes originally from East Africa, which Bob Marley put into his song ‘Little Ax’ – ‘So if you are the big tree We are the small ax’.” I think we as a community can make a difference and do anything imaginable, while the power of “The individual is limited. For me, the main thing is the union and the community, who can change the path dictated to us by others.”

You celebrated your 50th birthday a year and a half ago, is “little ax” part of your age crisis?
Amused McQueen assumes that in a sense the answer is indeed yes. “In many cases people do not have the opportunity to look and examine the past as I had the opportunity and I am grateful for that. When you are young you think of your parents in a completely different way from how you see them in adulthood. What I wanted to say is that my parents’ generation had to go through so much “Abuse in a hostile environment, and the very fact that they came out of this experience both healthy and sane is quite impressive to me. I wanted to give back the credit that goes to the people who have sacrificed so much for the sake of my generation.”

Do you think “Little Ax” is a reaction to the Donald Trump era?
“This is not a reaction but a result of an ongoing situation. The influence of the black community in Britain from the mid-1950s to the present is enormous. The black community has changed Britain forever, in law, culture, politics and sport. The country has changed beyond recognition. There were black people involved in its growth and progress. ”

Two of the films – “Mangrove”, which recreates the trial of nine social activists who went out to protest against racism and police violence against blacks and accused of incitement, and “Love Rock”, which takes place at a reggae party in the 80s, were selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s official competition Of thing because of the corona. Eventually the New York Film Festival premiered three of the films.

“Little Ax” movies reached BBC ONE and Amazon Prime last November and were garnished with rave reviews and there were also some that crowned the anthology as “Cinematic Event of the Year”. Now the best and most powerful anthology is also available with us, thanks to yes MOVIES DRAMA and the yes Cinematheque library.

When I watched “Red, White and Blue,” one of the best films in the collection, I could not help but think of the parallel between the protagonist and McQueen, who is trying to make a change within the conservative and racist film industry. At the center of the film, which is based on a true story, is Leroy Logan, a brilliant fellow from the Caribbean community who, even though he did a doctorate, decided to enlist in the police to improve his attitude towards minorities.

“For a long time they did not want to include the black community in film or television, as well as in many other industries. The West Indies were brought to England after World War II for manual labor, so I guess there were people who assumed that this would always be the case – but no. “We wanted to have a better future. It’s a desire that is always there: man must always fight injustice in the world, no matter where he comes from. And that can happen today – when people continue to fight people like Trump or any other obstacle.”

It seemed important for you to present a scene of a meal or cooking in each of the movies.
“It’s a part of life. There’s something in this sitting together and in flavors that remind immigrants of the house – even if we are far from it. There is something in the taste of the house that was important to me as a creator, so cooking in ‘Little Ax’ is very significant: golden curry, chicken stew, rice and beans “.

In the film Education, McQueen discusses the racist paving of black children in special schools in the 1970s, using the story of Kingsley, a clever and bespectacled boy who, in light of his exploits at school, authorities send him to a special school where teachers do not bother to go to the wild classroom. The film actually draws inspiration from the life of McQueen, who grew up in Eiling London and was diagnosed as having a lazy eye. McQueen testifies that he had bad experiences at school and he himself was sent to such a class, which designated the students for the professions of manual labor, plumbing and construction.

“Of course working on ‘Little Ax’ took me back to childhood – I imagined what it was like and how it could have been. After all the hardships I went through in London, I realized how I got to where I am today.” He tells.

Towards the end of the film “Education”, Kingsley goes to meetings with a teacher named Tabitha, who organizes an alternative class on weekends and teaches about black history, among other things. When Tebitah asks the children: “What do you know about our ancestors?”, One of the students replies: “We were slaves.” The teacher is outraged: “This is what the whites want us to know. If so, you do not know about Masai and the kingdom of Kush, about the peoples of Africa, the cultural wealth, about the fact that we exist long before the others.”

What did you learn about your background? Where did your ancestral ancestors come from?
“From my mother’s side, my ancestors were the first kings of Ghana. The British once documented entire pedigrees not bad at all,” laughs McQueen. “From my dad’s side the story is more interesting – I realized he comes from an Irish background, which means I’m a bit Irish too and it’s bursting with laughter.”

McQueen, who excelled as a child in football, was eventually rescued from the fate of many of his classmates. He studied art and design and became one of the UK’s most prominent visual artists, including winning the prestigious Turner Award. In 2008 he made his debut film “Hunger”, which garnered many awards (including “The Golden Camera” in Cannes) and dealt with the Irish underground fighter, who sat hungry in a British prison.

Starring Michael Fassbender, with whom McQueen later also made “Shame” (2012) about a sex-addicted New York man and “12 Years of Slavery.” “Michael and I met before he was so famous,” McQueen says. “And it’s good we knew then, when none of us were ‘anyone.’ Whenever I see him in the movies I think he does not play, I believe him. There are many stars I do not believe. Michael is an artist, who wants to get close to understanding who we are as human beings. “.

While much has changed since McQueen’s parents came to England or since childhood, the esteemed director discovers that despite his success, Oscar and status, he still experiences racism. “Of course I face racism every day,” he reveals. “I encounter micro-aggression and get into all sorts of other unpleasant situations – but that’s the way it is. Until all the prejudices go away, it’s something that will always happen.”

Do you have an example of a case of racism that you have been through recently?
“Unfortunately, there is too much. That’s what it is. It also depends on how you react to it – and I respond through asking questions, and on TV and film you can also tell a story. You can take that negative energy and turn it into something else.”

McQueen spends his corona period at his residence in Amsterdam, spends time with his family and watches mostly classic French films. “For me the plague intensified the family aspect. My daughter came back from London and so did the son. It emphasized to me how much I love my family as one unit that is together. After the kids left for school I did not think we would be together again, so for him it was a blessing in disguise.”

McQueen will soon be directing a documentary about life in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation, based on a book written by his partner, which tells personal stories from that difficult period. “In this film I will examine the past from the present. I am very enthusiastic about this project.”

Why did the subject of Amsterdam during World War II attract you?
“Every day when I walk down the street I think about this history. It is said that life in Amsterdam today is like living alongside ghosts. Through cinema I want to illuminate the present past within the present.”