The European Premiere of Mangrove, one of five films from the Small Axe Anthology, will play for free to audiences at BFI Southbank and in selected cinemas across the UK.
The film, directed by the multi-award-winning visual artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen and co-written by McQueen and Alastair Siddons, stars Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes and Malachi Kirby.
Marking 50 years since the events depicted in the film, Mangrove tells the true story of the Mangrove 9, the group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970 and their highly publicised trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behaviour motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.
Mangrove will receive its European premiere on Wednesday 7 October as part of the Festival’s innovative 12-day offering which takes the entire Festival out to cities around the UK, and with many films across the programme also available for virtual premieres at home.
The film is one of five films from Small Axe, a drama anthology which comprises five original films created by Steve McQueen for BBC One.