Moments ago, the New York Film Festival announced their Opening Night Selection, and it’s not a title you’d expect. Going in a different direction than at least I anticipated, they’ve tapped Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock as the Opener. Part of a five movie collection of McQueen’s called the Small Axe anthology, this is the highest profile of the lot, with the four other films being Mangrove, Alex Wheatle, Education, as well as Red, White and Blue (apparently Mangrove and Red, White and Blue are going to be a part of the fest’s Main Slate when it’s announced later on this month, too). Consider this a surprise, as well a potential shakeup in the upcoming awards race. Considering how interesting it sounds, count me in, and it’s kind of fun that NYFF didn’t opt for an obvious choice. Read on for more about the flick… Here is some of the press release: Film at Lincoln Center announced today that Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock will be the Opening Night film of the 58th New York Film Festival, making its World Premiere. Lovers Rock is part of the Small Axe anthology, which comprises five original films by Academy Award, BAFTA, and Golden Globe-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen (Hunger, 12 Years A Slave), which will premiere on BBC One later this year and air on Amazon Prime Video in the US. 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. It is produced by Turbine Studios and Steve McQueen’s Lammas Park for BBC One with Amazon Studios co-producing in the US. The five films that make up Small Axe are Mangrove, Lovers Rock, Alex Wheatle, Education and Red, White and Blue. Lovers Rock tells a fictional story of young love and music at a blues party in the early 1980s. Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn makes her screen debut opposite the BAFTAs 2020 Rising Star award recipient Micheal Ward (Top Boy). Shaniqua Okwok (Boys), Kedar Williams-Stirling (Sex Education), Ellis George (Doctor Who), Alexander James-Blake (Top Boy), Kadeem Ramsay (Blue Story) also star, as well as Francis Lovehall and Daniel Francis-Swaby, who make their screen debuts. Lovers Rock was co-written by Courttia Newland and Steve McQueen. Of historic note for the festival, two other films from the anthology, Mangrove and Red, […]