Steve McQueen to Receive Camerimage Outstanding Director Award

Steve McQueen — director of best picture Oscar winner “12 Years a Slave” and upcoming “Blitz” — will receive the Outstanding Director Award at the 32nd EnergaCamerimage international cinematography film festival in Torun, Poland.

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“Steve McQueen is an artist known for his uncompromising engagement in tackling difficult social and political issues. His vivid filmmaking style explores the problems of racism, violence, addiction and inequality, constantly moving and provoking discussion, which situates him as one of the most important contemporary film creators,” said Camerimage festival director Marek Żydowicz.

McQueen’s 2008 feature debut, “Hunger,” starred Michael Fassbender as a starving IRA hunger-striker premiered at Cannes and won the Camera D’Or. McQueen reteamed with Fassbender on his second feature, “Shame,” for which DP Sean Bobbit was selected for the Camerimage main competition in 2011.

In 2013, McQueen directed “12 Years a Slave,” based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man kidnapped and sold into slavery. The film won the Academy Award, BAFTA and AAFCA Awards for best picture while McQueen received DGA, Academy and BAFTA directing nods. Bobbit’s work was again in the Camerimage main competition.

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McQueen teamed with cinematographer Yorick Le Saux (2019’s “Little Women”) on his latest film, “Blitz,” which follows George (Elliott Heffernan), a 9-year-old boy whose mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside during World War II. In the story, written and directed by McQueen, George embarks on an adventure to return home, only to find himself in immense peril, while a distraught Rita searches for her missing son. An Apple Original Film, “Blitz” will premiere in select theatres on Nov. 1 before releasing globally on Apple TV+ on Nov. 22.

The director’s credits include anthology series “Small Axe,” which was awarded best picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association; and several documentaries such as “Occupied City,” “Uprising” and “Three Minutes: A Lengthening.”

A Turner Prize and Johannes Vermeer Prize laureate, his work can be seen in galleries and museums including the Art Institute of Chicago, Schaulager in Basel, as well as Tate Modern and Tate Britain in London.

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