British filmmaker Steve McQueen pays tribute to his aunt’s generation of young West Indian immigrants in the 1980s with Lovers Rock, a standalone film in McQueen’s Small Axe anthology series. The film’s title borrows the name of a reggae subgenre that is characterised by its mellow love songs made for slow dancing. Stripped of reggae’s direct political messages, lovers rock focuses on romance and intimacy. The film follows a young woman sneaking out of her home for a night of music and dalliance. Though violence and strife are only a stone’s throw away, these young men and women find solace and comfort in each other’s arms. McQueen celebrates the healing power of shared musical experience, which plays a crucial role in nurturing a generation of Britons who face daily injustices in their community.

Steve McQueen (b. 1969, UK) started his career as an artist in the 1990s, winning the Turner Prize in 1999 and participating at Documenta in 1997 and 2002. McQueen made his feature film debut with Hunger (2008), a film about political prisoner Bobby Sands who died on hunger strike while being imprisoned in Northern Ireland. His third film, 12 Years a Slave (2013), has won awards at both the Academy Awards and the BAFTAs. He has recently completed Occupied City, which will be presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.