The SMALL AXE anthology consists of five original films by Academy Award, BAFTA, and Golden Globe-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen (HUNGER, SHAME, 12 YEARS A SLAVE, WIDOWS). Set from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, the films each tell a different story involving London's West Indian community, whose lives have been shaped by their own force of will, despite rampant racism and discrimination. Even though this collection of films is set some decades ago, the stories are as vital and timely today as they were for the West Indian community in London at the time. SMALL AXE is a celebration of Black joy, beauty, love, friendship, family, music and even food; each one, in its own unique way, conveys hard-won successes, bringing hope and optimism for 2020.

From director Kathryn Bigelow, and screenwriter Mark Boal, DETROIT is the dramatic true story of a racially motivated crime that took place over one dark night in 1967. Up-and-coming Motown musician Larry Reed (Algee Smith), six other young African American men and two young white women were terrorized by local police, despite the presence of the State Police, the National Guard and an African American security guard (John Boyega). Before the sun rose in the motor city, three of the young males were slain in cold blood. Set against the civil unrest of '67, DETROIT charts the crime and the survivors’ futile search for justice. Heartbreakingly, Larry Reed's dreams of stardom disappear as he struggles to find a way forward.