Steve McQueen Chronicles Amsterdam’s Nazi Oppression in Trailer for Epic Doc ‘Occupied City’ (Video)

The four-hour documentary, which debuted to acclaim at Cannes, connects the city’s past and present

The past and present collide in the first trailer for Oscar-winning “12 Years a Slave” and “Widows” filmmaker Steve McQueen’s epic and acclaimed documentary “Occupied City.”

Based on the book “Atlas of an Occupied City” by McQueen’s wife Bianca Stigter, the four-hour film offers two interlocking portraits: a vivid journey through the last years of pandemic and protest, and a door-to-door excavation of the Nazi occupation that still haunts his adopted city. What emerges, according to the official synopsis, is “both devastating and life-affirming, an expansive meditation on memory, time, and where we’re headed.”

The A24 film – which opens in theaters on Dec. 25 – drew raves when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, and its release is unfortunately coming at a time when antisemitism is front and center.

This McQueen’s first foray into documentary feature filmmaking as the heralded director most recently shifted to television to craft the acclaimed anthology “Small Axe” for Prime Video. He is also in post-production on a film about London during the World War II Blitz for Apple TV+ that stars Saoirse Ronan and Harris Dickinson.

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