Amazon Debuts Official Trailer for Steve McQueen’s ‘Mangrove’ (VIDEO)
Amazon Prime has debuted the official trailer for Mangrove, which is one of five films featured in the anthology series Small Axe by award-winning director Steve McQueen, and the timing couldn’t be more meaningful.
In fact, Sunday, August 9, marks the 50th anniversary of the Mangrove March, which was when 150 protestors of West Indian, African, and South Asian heritage marched to local police stations in Notting Hill, London in protest of police harassment.
One of these locations where the harassment occurred was at the Mangrove restaurant, for which the film is named. Nine of these protestors — Frank Crichlow, Darcus Howe, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Barbara Beese, Rupert Boyce, Rhodan Gordon, Anthony Innis, Rothwell Kentish, and Godfrey Millett — were arrested and charged with incitement to riot.
Mangrove tells the story of these nine individuals and their very public trial that followed. “Sunday, August 9th, is 50 years since the Mangrove March, which led to nine innocent Black women and men being arrested. It was a march necessitated by relentless police brutality in Notting Hill,” McQueen said in a statement about the film.
“To commemorate the bravery of these community activists and the nine who went on to be acquitted of incitement to riot with the judge citing “evidence of racial hatred,” I am sharing the trailer of Mangrove, one of five films to be released under the banner Small Axe.”
Letitia Wright, who is best known for her work in Black Panther, stars in the film, as well as Shaun Parkes, Malachi Kirby, Rochenda Sandall, Jack Lowden, Sam Spruell, Gershwyn Eustache Jr, Nathaniel Martello-White, Richie Campbell, Jumayn Hunter, and Gary Beadle.
(Des Willie / Amazon Prime Video)
Small Axe will include films set from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s and will tell various stories involving London’s West Indian community. The other four films included in the series are Lovers Rock, Alex Wheatle, Education, and Red, White, and Blue. It will also premiere on Amazon Prime later this year.
Small Axe, Anthology Premiere, 2020, Amazon Prime Video
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