
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
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
22/11/2025
The deadline for entries for the 2025 Best in Market Awards has been extended to 23:59 PST on November 28, 2025....
22/11/2025
Clear-Com announced the upcoming launch of its 4-Channel HelixNet beltpack, a next-generation advancement of its widely used 2-channel model. The new beltpack...
22/11/2025
Marshall Electronics is showcasing the latest additions to its CV600 Series of PTZ cameras, the CV625 and CV612, which both feature AI track and follow capabili...
22/11/2025
At this year's European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress, held at the RAI Amsterdam, LiveConnect delivered an ambitious and technically complex live produ...
22/11/2025
Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), a leader in wireless frequency coordination and RF system design, provided a comprehensive wireless gear package and onsite...
22/11/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced the release of ARGUS v2.3, which introduces Live Look, a powerful new feature that e...
22/11/2025
Peer Software today announced significant advancements across its enterprise data orchestration and analytics platform with new releases of Peer Global File Ser...
22/11/2025
At InterBEE 2025, Atomos announces a major firmware update that brings integrated camera control to the Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX its new CFexpress-based monit...
22/11/2025
Today, AWS announces the general availability of AWS Elemental MediaConnect Router, a new capability that enables broadcasters and content providers to dynamica...
22/11/2025
Rise, the award-winning advocacy group for gender diversity in the broadcast media technology sector, is delighted to announce the winners for this year's R...
22/11/2025
Lightware, industry leader in signal management, is strengthening its Taurus UCX product family with the introduction of the new HC60 lineup. The new product li...
22/11/2025
CARSON, Calif. IDX has introduced the IDX CUE-J Series battery/charger kits, including the CUE-J98, CUE-J150 and CUE-J198....
22/11/2025
The NBA has released encouraging viewing and social media data that the beginnings of its $76 billion deal with NBC/Peacock, Prime Video and ESPN are paying off...
22/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has set deadlines for comments on its newest proposals for NextGen TV, aka ATSC 3.0, with comments due on Jan. ...
22/11/2025
Seeking Advice for a New Opera, Laura Kaminsky Consulted the Experts: Her Studen...
21/11/2025
Platinum White Paper: Appear Shares Why Media Exchange Is the Missing Link in So...
21/11/2025
NWSL Championship 2025: CBS Sports To Deploy Two-Point FlyCam for Match Coverage...
21/11/2025
NWSL Caps 2025 Season With Awards Show, Skills Challenge ProductionsA team of 70 is on the ground in California to produce both eventsBy Mark J Burns, SVG Contr...
21/11/2025
USL and NEP Ready for Largest USL Championship Final Production EverThe broadcast from Tulsa, OK, will air CBS and TUDN on Saturday at 12 p.m. ETBy Jason Dachma...
21/11/2025
With Two New Teams, PWHL Boosts Production Workforce and Central Review for Seas...
21/11/2025
Jared Lank and his mother in the '90s...
21/11/2025
Fans have been counting down the days until the final theatrical chapter of Wicked is revealed. To celebrate the highly anticipated release of Wicked: For Good ...
21/11/2025
Last week, Spotify turned up the volume in Seoul with the return of Spotify Hous...
21/11/2025
Wiesbaden, November 21, 2025. The SGL Carbon site in Meitingen has reason to celebrate as one of its trainees received a special award. Elias Stemmer was honore...
21/11/2025
MELBOURNE, Fla., Nov. 21, 2025 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) has announced this year's LHX Excellence Awards, the company's most prestigious recog...
21/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission by a 3-0 vote opened a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to advance Congress's mandate to clear a minimu...
21/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission by a 3-0 vote adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to advance Congress's mandate to clear a minim...
21/11/2025
STAMFORD, Conn. Charter's Spectrum has expanded the devices that can offer 4K content on the Spectrum TV app to compatible Apple TV 4K and Roku devices....
21/11/2025
NAPERVILLE, Ill. Media industry employers are continuing their multiyear trend of increasing salaries for all worker segments but lag general industry raises, s...
21/11/2025
WASHINGTON The National Association of Broadcasters said it is accepting nominations for the 2026 NAB Technology Awards, honors that recognize excellence in bro...
21/11/2025
American Amplifier Technologies has released a vector network analysis module....
21/11/2025
The Best Movie Musicals on Every Streaming Platform From Wicked to The Sound of Music, heres where to stream all the classic movie musicals and recent hits on...
21/11/2025
The agreement creates a platform for joint collaboration, technology integration...
21/11/2025
Sky Media's £2m award-winning sustainability initiative crowns its first charity as this year's standout changemakerFriday 21 November 2025
GoodGym nam...
21/11/2025
As COP30 draws to a close, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), ...
20/11/2025
MLB Media-Rights Shakeup: NBC's New Three-Year Deal Covers Sunday Night Bas...
20/11/2025
MLB Media-Rights Shakeup: New Deal Will Bring 30 National Games to ESPN's Li...
20/11/2025
MLB Media-Rights Shakeup: Netflix Lands Opening Night, Home Run Derby, Field of ...
20/11/2025
MLB Media-Rights Shakeup Overview: ESPN, NBCU, Netflix Ink Three-Year DealsESPN gets new 30-game package, MLB.TV; NBC extends Sunday nights; Netflix adds tentpo...
20/11/2025
SVG Students To Watch: Henry Thuss, Indiana UniversityThe Southern California product has his goals set on the front benchBy Brandon Costa, Director of Digital ...
20/11/2025
Done+Dusted's Guy Carrington on Creating the Spectacular League of Legends W...
20/11/2025
FIA Extreme H World Cup Host Broadcaster Aurora Goes Inside the Production of th...
20/11/2025
Platinum White Paper: Amagi Utilizes Cloud Production for Sports Events - Multi-...
20/11/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Marc Herklotz, Steady Hand Behind the Sce...
20/11/2025
NFL Deep Dive: How 32 Cameras at Each Stadium Drive Virtual Measurement, Boundar...
20/11/2025
Charlie Shackleton attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Zodiac K...
20/11/2025
Your playlists are personal. They're the soundtracks to your road trips, your quiet mornings, and your biggest celebrations; collections of memories and dis...
20/11/2025
Spotify, uzun s redir zerine al t T rk m zik k lt r n n ikon haline gelmi ...
20/11/2025
For the first time, Spotify has teamed up with The Hollywood Reporter to cohost ...