Steve McQueen to dedicate new movies to George Floyd

Steve McQueen is honoring George Floyd with his work.

On Wednesday, the 12 Years A Slave director shared his decision to dedicate two of his Cannes Film Festival selected stories to Floyd, a black man who died on Memorial Day after he was pinned down by a white Minnesota police officer.  

The films, titled Mangrove and Lovers Rock, are a part of McQueen’s anthology series Small Axe, which focuses on London’s West Indian community from the 1960s through the mid-1980s. 

In a statement to Variety, the award-winning producer announced, “I dedicate these films to George Floyd and all the other black people that have been murdered, seen or unseen, because of who they are, in the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere.”

“‘If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.’ Black Lives Matter,” he added, referencing the African proverb that inspired the series’ title. 

The Cannes Film Festival was scheduled to take place from May 12 through May 23 but was canceled in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the festival announced that other options were being explored to allow the events to take place outside of its normal routine.