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Occupied City + ScreenTalk with Steve McQueen and Bianca Stigter

,Cinema 1
Kids slide down an icey slope with toboggans on a sunny winters' day.

Where do the memories of a city go? Steve McQueen's mesmerising excavation of how the past haunts our precarious present: Amsterdam today uncovers what occurred there between 1940-1945.

A searching camera sweeps through a vibrant contemporary Amsterdam while, at the same time, the film summons people and memories of the past under Nazi occupation within the city’s map and woven into the fabric of its streets and buildings. McQueen opens up a poetic, dreamlike space where unthinkable history and hope for a new future co-exist. 

The film is informed by the rigorously researched and lauded Atlas of an Occupied City: Amsterdam 1940-1945, written by historian and filmmaker Bianca Stigter, McQueen’s partner.

The emotional power of these stories accumulates over the course of the film, laying bare the mechanics of both systematic oppression and sudden bravery; both calculated terror and life-saving luck; both ordinary and extraordinary ways of surviving.

Tagged with: Cinema ScreenTalks ScreenTalks

Steve McQueen UK 2023, 266 mins (includes 15-min intermission)

Informed by the book Atlas of an Occupied City: Amsterdam 1940-1945 by Bianca Stigter

Cinema 1

Location
Barbican Cinema 1 is located within the main Barbican building on Level -2. Head to Level G and walk towards the Lakeside Terrace where you’ll find stairs and lifts to take you down to the venue floor.   

Address
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS

Public transport
The Barbican is widely accessible by bus, tube, train and by foot or bicycle. Plan your journey and find more route information in ‘Your Visit’ or book your car parking space in advance.