Amandla! Steve McQueen's Black Power doccie series now on ShowmaxOscar-winning filmmaker Sir Steve McQueen documents the real-life stories of resistance and injustice in 3 documentaries.
by Nokuthula Ngcobo
02-07-2022 08:00
in Entertainment
Oscar-winning filmmaker Sir Steve McQueen documents the real-life stories of resistance and injustice in 3 documentaries. Image Supplied
The BBC documentary collection Resistance in a Hostile Environment, from Oscar-winning filmmaker Sir Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave), is now streaming on Showmax.
--
UPRISING' The omnibus includes Uprising, which won the 2022 BAFTA Award for Best Factual Series, and Black Power: A British Story of Resistance, which was nominated for a 2022 BAFTA for Specialist Factual. Both have 100% critics' ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.
The documentaries examine the systemic racial injustice that shaped what it meant to be Black in Britain from the late 1960s to the early 80s, and trace the real-life stories of resistance that inspired McQueen's five-film anthology series Small Axe, which won BAFTA and Critics' Choice awards among many, many others.
As IndieWire puts it, Small Axe grew out of a desire to shed light on Black resistance movements in Britain So, too, [do the] documentaries which chronicle pivotal stories from recent British history largely ignored by media. Viewed collectively, the films make it clear that McQueen almost single-handedly aims to disrupt the preferred timeline with films that detail tumultuous crusades for change that cross borders, and still very much resonate today.
--
In addition to producing the omnibus as a whole, McQueen and BAFTA nominee James Rogan (Stephen: The Murder that Changed a Nation, Putin: A Russian Spy Story) co-directed Uprising, which examines three intertwined events of 1981 that would go on to define race relations in the UK for a generation: the New Cross Fire, which killed 13 young Black people; the Black People's Day of Action; and the Brixton riots.
Guardian called the three-part miniseries brilliant and furious and human, while the Rotten Tomatoes critics' consensus says, Honest, harrowing, and heartbreaking, Uprising is an incredible feat of documentary storytelling from Steve McQueen.
ALSO READ: The Wife': Inside Khanyi Mbau, Zikhona Sodlaka, Mondli Makhaba's exits
--
BLACK POWER' BAFTA nominee George Amponsah (Enslaved) directs Black Power: A British Story of Resistance, narrated by Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah). The feature documentary looks at the 60s and 70s through the eyes of the young Black people who refused to take racism as a part of the natural order of things in the UK, examining the socio-cultural movement that helped fuel hope and resilience, mobilised in protest of the apartheid system in South Africa, and ultimately started Britain on the road to being a more inclusive and diverse society.
Black Power draws on interviews with activists like Linton Kwesi Johnson, as well as archive footage of civil rights leaders, from Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Darcus Howe and Roy Sawh to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., to trace the rise of organisations such as the British Black Panthers, R.A.A.S. and The Fasimbas.
Does anybody remember learning about these prominent figures and crucial events in British Black history in school? asks Black Girl Nerds, saying, It's maddening that this entire movement has been overlooked for decades.
Black Power: A British Story of Resistance, they say, is truly a history lesson we need. Many of these important people have been forgotten or are completely unknown, but this documentary honours their legacies by shining a light on them. You'll be surprised at just how much we didn't know.
SUBNORMAL' The final documentary, Subnormal: A British Scandal, directed by newcomer Lyttanya Shannon, examines one of the biggest scandals in the history of British education (and the inspiration for Education, the final film in the Small Axe anthology): the unofficial but widely accepted segregation policy of the 60s and 70s, which saw hundreds of Black children in Britain labelled as educationally subnormal and wrongly sent to schools for pupils deemed to have low intelligence, until Black parents, teachers and activists banded together to expose the injustice and force the education system to change.
The Guardian says Subnormal is a chronicle of systemic racism that ruined people's lives. The activists, academics and psychologists here all talk with a sense of steady fury about what was allowed to happen This is a sobering story, told with skill and compassion, and it is a compelling and devastating account.
As McQueen told IndieWire, These stories are now out in the world, so no one can claim ignorance anymore. A generation decided it would no longer condone how British society defined it, and fought back. That was very important for me, that they are tightly interwoven into the fabric of British history.
If you know your rugby, you could win R1 000 in cash! ENTER NOW & WIN
Africa Stories
23/09/2026
1. ABOUT THE PROGRAMME
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites applications from experienced producers who own or manage a South African product...
23/09/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce the opening...
17/09/2026
The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC), in partnership with the Nation...
16/09/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites eligible South African pro...
09/09/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites eligible Tier 1 and 2 South African production companies to submit proposals to serve as the Facilitating ...
05/09/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
18/08/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
15/08/2026
14 August 2026 | Johannesburg - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), a...
14/08/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Ar...
08/08/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
28/07/2026
27 July 2026, Johannesburg - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an a...
20/07/2026
The NFVF, an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, has released t...
09/07/2026
08 July 2026, Johannesburg - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an a...
06/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
10/06/2026
Production and Development Funding supports the creation of compelling, commercially viable, artistic and culturally relevant South African screen content. Deve...
09/06/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is a statutory body mandated to spearhead the equitable growth and development of the South African film and video...
19/05/2026
Press Release
18 May 2026, Johannesburg South Africa has been selected as the...
24/04/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/04/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
26/03/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC), has been tasked with administering the Sixth Presi...
24/03/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites eligible Tier 1 and 2 South African production companies to submit proposals to serve as the Facilitating ...
15/03/2026
Johannesburg, 14 March 2026 - On 13 and 14 March 2026, the 19th Annual South Afr...
12/03/2026
Johannesburg, 11 March 2026 - The 19th Annual South African Film and Television ...
03/03/2026
Click here for isiXhosa version.
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites aspiring and emerging filmmakers from Matatiele and surrounding areas to...
17/02/2026
Johannesburg, 17 February 2026 - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), ...
09/02/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts, and Culture and custodian of the SAFTAs, is calling on all South Afri...
09/02/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
09/02/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the call for training provider submissions is open. This funding aims to award grants ...
06/02/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
04/02/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites final-year animation students to participate in an exclusive creative showcase at the Annecy International...
02/02/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), in partnership with the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS), is calling for applications from experienced Sou...
29/01/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), in collaboration with a distribut...
28/01/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), in partnership with the Oudtshoorn Municipality, invites aspiring and emerging filmmakers to apply for the Sediba...
20/01/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
07/01/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), in collaboration with a distributor, is commissioning new micro-budget fiction feature films and invites eligible...
31/10/2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
30 October 2025
It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of Segomotso Keorapetse, an award- winning South African television d...
29/10/2025
It's not the wonders of the world that make a place; it's the people. As...
07/10/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
02/10/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce the opening...
30/09/2025
Johannesburg, South Africa, 29 September 2025: The National Film and Video Found...
26/09/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation, an agency of the Department of Sport, Ar...
26/09/2025
https://www.nfvf.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/fully-Inclusive-nfvf-invitatio...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
27/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
25/08/2025
Theme: One Story. One Industry. One Future. - Celebrating South Africa's Screen Legacy, Together
Johannesburg - The National Film and Video Foundation (N...
04/08/2025
S o Paulo Film and Audiovisual Company (Spcine) and the National Film and Video ...
Amandla! Steve McQueen's Black Power doccie series now on ShowmaxOscar-winning filmmaker Sir Steve McQueen documents the real-life stories of resistance and injustice in 3 documentaries.
