ReFocus: The Films of Steve McQueen

Explores British director Steve McQueen’s diverse output, from video installations to independent cinema to Hollywood to the BBC • The first full book-length study of McQueen to be published in English • Investigates the landmark television series Small Axe, in addition to his Hollywood films (Widows, 12 Years A Slave), independent titles (Shame, Hunger) and gallery installations • Draws on multiple methods to explore this wide body of work, including political contextualisation, textual analysis, institutional studies and intertextual comparisons Working across a range of formats, from video art and gallery installations to independent cinema to Hollywood to the BBC, Steve McQueen’s prodigious output has been marked by formal ambition and political urgency. This collection interrogates his body of work, its political, aesthetic and institutional dimensions, and the interfaces between them. It offers critical insights into McQueen’s engagements with race, gender, the body, love and pain, and his abiding self-reflexive interest in the potential of multiple audio-visual forms. The first director to win both the Turner Prize and an Oscar for best picture, McQueen is probably the most important working British film maker. This book explores the controversies as well as the achievements in his stellar career so far.