Amazon Prime Video released the trailer for Mangrove, directed by Steve McQueen, the first film in a planned five-part anthology series from the British filmmaker titled Small Axe.
Mangrove, Lovers Rock, and Red, White, and Blue will premiere during this year’s 58th New York Film Festival. Mangrove is coming to Amazon later this year.
Mangrove commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Mangrove March, where 150 protesters of West Indian, African and South Asian heritage clashed with police in the West London neighborhood of Notting Hill on August 9th, 1970.
The demonstrators were protesting against prolonged police harassment in the area, including at the Mangrove restaurant. Nine of the march’s leaders were arrested and charged with incitement to riot: Frank Crichlow, Darcus Howe, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Barbara Beese, Rupert Boyce, Rhodan Gordon, Anthony Innis, Rothwell Kentish and Godfrey Millett. McQueen’s film focuses on these protesters, dubbed the Mangrove 9, and their efforts in seeking justice.
McQueen said of the event: “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. 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 (Black Panther), Shaun Parkes (Lost in Space) and Malachi Kirby (Curfew) star in the film alongside Rochenda Sandall, Jack Lowden, Sam Spruell, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, Nathaniel Martello-White, Richie Campbell, Jumayn Hunter and Gary Beadle. McQueen co-wrote the film alongside Alastair Siddons.
From Rolling Stone US
