Oscar-winning British director Steve McQueen is returning to his art roots with a series of short films at London's Tate Modern art gallery, offering a sensory exploration of black identity.

Steve McQueen, who became the first black director to win the best picture Academy Award in 2014 for '12 Years a Slave', is now based between London and Amsterdam and is focused on championing diversity in the film industry.

Visitors to his new exhibition will be greeted by 'Static', a film of New York's Statue of Liberty, scrutinising the iconic symbol from every possible angle at very close range against a deafening backdrop of the helicopter from where the footage was filmed.

"What interests Steve is our view of the world, how humans are trying to represent Liberty," said Fiontan Moran, assistant curator of the exhibition.

'7th Nov, 2001'&nbsp;features a still shot of a body while McQueen's cousin Marcus tells of how he accidentally killed his brother, a particularly traumatic experience for the artist.

"Western Deep" is another visceral work, giving a sense through sights and sounds in an interactive installation of the experiences of miners in South Africa, following them to the bottom of the mine.

"Ashes", meanwhile, is a tribute to a young fisherman from Grenada, the island where McQueen's family originated.

The images of beauty and sweetness filmed from his boat are tragically reversed on the other side of the projection screen, which shows a grave commissioned by McQueen for the eponymous young fisherman, who was killed by drug traffickers.

- Poetry - 
African-American singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson (1898-1976) is honoured in 'End Credits'. &nbsp;

The film shows censored FBI documents detailing the agency's surveillance of Robeson, read by a voice-over artist, for five hours.

"He is... testing the limits of how people can be documented in an era of mass surveillance," said Moran.

In a similarly militant vein, the exhibition features the sculpture 'Weight', which was first shown in the prison cell where the writer and playwright Oscar Wilde was imprisoned.

It depicts a golden mosquito net draped over a metal prison bed frame, addressing the theme of confinement and the power of the imagination to break free.

The show runs alongside an exhibition of McQueen's giant portraits of London school classes, many of which appeared on the streets of London last year.

"I remember my first school trip to Tate when I was an impressionable eight-year-old, which was really the moment I gained an understanding that anything is possible," said McQueen, adding it was "where in some ways my journey as an artist first began".

He recently told the Financial Times newspaper the difference between his art films and his feature films was that the former were poetry, the latter like a novel.

"Poetry is condensed, precise, fragmented," he said. "The novel is the yarn".

The exhibition opens on February 13 and runs until May 11.

Oscar-winning British director Steve McQueen is returning to his art roots with a series of short films at London's Tate Modern art gallery, offering a sensory exploration of black identity.

Oscar-winning British director Steve McQueen is returning to his art roots with a series of short films at London's Tate Modern art gallery, offering a sensory exploration of black identity. Steve McQueen, who became the first black director to win the best picture Academy Award in 2014 for '12 Years a Slave', is now based between London and Amsterdam and is focused on championing diversity in the film industry. Visitors to his new exhibition will be greeted by 'Static', a film of New York's Statue of Liberty, scrutinising the iconic symbol from every possible angle at very close range against a deafening backdrop of the helicopter from where the footage was filmed. "What interests Steve is our view of the world, how humans are trying to represent Liberty," said Fiontan Moran, assistant curator of the exhibition. '7th Nov, 2001' features a still shot of a body while McQueen's cousin Marcus tells of how he accidentally killed his brother, a particularly traumatic experience for the artist. "Western Deep" is another visceral work, giving a sense through sights and sounds in an interactive installation of the experiences of miners in South Africa, following them to the bottom of the mine. "Ashes", meanwhile, is a tribute to a young fisherman from Grenada, the island where McQueen's family originated. The images of beauty and sweetness filmed from his boat are tragically reversed on the other side of the projection screen, which shows a grave commissioned by McQueen for the eponymous young fisherman, who was killed by drug traffickers. - Poetry - African-American singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson (1898-1976) is honoured in 'End Credits'. The film shows censored FBI documents detailing the agency's surveillance of Robeson, read by a voice-over artist, for five hours. "He is... testing the limits of how people can be documented in an era of mass surveillance," said Moran. In a similarly militant vein, the exhibition features the sculpture 'Weight', which was first shown in the prison cell where the writer and playwright Oscar Wilde was imprisoned. It depicts a golden mosquito net draped over a metal prison bed frame, addressing the theme of confinement and the power of the imagination to break free. The show runs alongside an exhibition of McQueen's giant portraits of London school classes, many of which appeared on the streets of London last year. "I remember my first school trip to Tate when I was an impressionable eight-year-old, which was really the moment I gained an understanding that anything is possible," said McQueen, adding it was "where in some ways my journey as an artist first began". He recently told the Financial Times newspaper the difference between his art films and his feature films was that the former were poetry, the latter like a novel. "Poetry is condensed, precise, fragmented," he said. "The novel is the yarn". The exhibition opens on February 13 and runs until May 11.

Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen returns to art with Tate show

The 1968 Ford Mustang GT that Steve McQueen drove in the classic car chase from the movie 'Bullitt', one of the most famed cars from American cinema, sold for $3.4 million at auction in Florida on Friday, Mecum Auctions said. 
 
It was the highest price ever paid for a Ford Mustang at auction, according to David Morton, marketing manager for the auction house in Kissimmee, near Orlando. The buyer has not been publicly identified. 
 
"The hammer dropped at $3.4 million, but with buyers` fees, the total cost is $3.74 million," he said, adding it shattered the auction house`s previous record set last year of $2.2 million. 
 
The unrestored muscle car, its "highland green" paint looking rusty and black upholstery splitting apart, starred in a 10-minute sequence in the 1968 film, getting airborne a few times as it sped through the hilly streets of San Francisco. 
 
The car was auctioned without a reserve, or minimum sale price, a risky decision that could have forced the owners to sell low. 
 
McQueen filmed with the window down so viewers could see he was behind the wheel. Although credited as the driver, McQueen actually shared the wheel with Hollywood stunt driver Bud Ekins, according to the movie database IMDB.&nbsp;

<img alt="bullit" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="be6f28a9-066b-4488-80b3-8eaa95a758c0" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Untitled%20design%20%2889%29.jpg" />

Many movie buffs view the chase as ground-breaking for its duration and white-knuckle drama. The sequence forgoes a score in favour of roaring engines and screeching tires. McQueen, playing the no-nonsense police Lieutenant Frank Bullitt, was chasing bad guys who drove a black 1968 Dodge Charger.

After filming, the Mustang was sold to a Warner Brothers employee, and later to a New Jersey police detective. He, in turn, sold it for $6,000 in 1974 to Robert Kiernan of Madison, New Jersey, who held onto the car until he died in 2014. 
 
Kiernan rejected multiple offers for the car, including one from McQueen himself, according to the New York Times. He left it to his son, Sean. 
 
"I would like to appeal to you to get back my 68 Mustang," McQueen wrote to Kiernan in 1977, according to the Times. "I would like very much to keep it in the family, in its original condition as it was used in the film, rather than have it restored; which is simply personal with me." 
 
McQueen died in 1980 at age 50. Robert Kiernan never responded to McQueen's letter, which Sean Kiernan still has, the news agency told. 
 
Sean Kiernan told Mecum in a promotional video that his mother drove the car until the clutch failed in 1980. It went nearly 40 years without being driven until recently, with 65,000 miles on the odometer, Kiernan said.

The 1968 Ford Mustang GT that Steve McQueen drove in the classic car chase from the movie 'Bullitt', one of the most famed cars from American cinema, sold for $3.

The 1968 Ford Mustang GT that Steve McQueen drove in the classic car chase from the movie 'Bullitt', one of the most famed cars from American cinema, sold for $3.4 million at auction in Florida on Friday, Mecum Auctions said. It was the highest price ever paid for a Ford Mustang at auction, according to David Morton, marketing manager for the auction house in Kissimmee, near Orlando. The buyer has not been publicly identified. "The hammer dropped at $3.4 million, but with buyers` fees, the total cost is $3.74 million," he said, adding it shattered the auction house`s previous record set last year of $2.2 million. The unrestored muscle car, its "highland green" paint looking rusty and black upholstery splitting apart, starred in a 10-minute sequence in the 1968 film, getting airborne a few times as it sped through the hilly streets of San Francisco. The car was auctioned without a reserve, or minimum sale price, a risky decision that could have forced the owners to sell low. McQueen filmed with the window down so viewers could see he was behind the wheel. Although credited as the driver, McQueen actually shared the wheel with Hollywood stunt driver Bud Ekins, according to the movie database IMDB. Many movie buffs view the chase as ground-breaking for its duration and white-knuckle drama. The sequence forgoes a score in favour of roaring engines and screeching tires. McQueen, playing the no-nonsense police Lieutenant Frank Bullitt, was chasing bad guys who drove a black 1968 Dodge Charger. After filming, the Mustang was sold to a Warner Brothers employee, and later to a New Jersey police detective. He, in turn, sold it for $6,000 in 1974 to Robert Kiernan of Madison, New Jersey, who held onto the car until he died in 2014. Kiernan rejected multiple offers for the car, including one from McQueen himself, according to the New York Times. He left it to his son, Sean. "I would like to appeal to you to get back my 68 Mustang," McQueen wrote to Kiernan in 1977, according to the Times. "I would like very much to keep it in the family, in its original condition as it was used in the film, rather than have it restored; which is simply personal with me." McQueen died in 1980 at age 50. Robert Kiernan never responded to McQueen's letter, which Sean Kiernan still has, the news agency told. Sean Kiernan told Mecum in a promotional video that his mother drove the car until the clutch failed in 1980. It went nearly 40 years without being driven until recently, with 65,000 miles on the odometer, Kiernan said.

Ford Mustang driven by Steve McQueen in the movie 'Bullitt' sells for $3.4 million

Steve McQueen says top Hollywood bosses are scared to experiment with the films and do not want to explore diverse storylines.

In an interview with The Guardian, the McQueen, best known for the Oscar-winning feature '12 Years a Slave', said people of power in Hollywood lack creative imagination.

"I can't remember if there has ever been a movie about a gay person who is a detective or the lead in a romantic comedy who doesn't have a problem with their sexuality.

How is that possible? Certain people of power and influence in the industry are gay yet would never think about making a movie like that," McQueen said.&nbsp;

"What does it say about the worldview they're helping maintain? I'm not pointing fingers - I'm just saying that if we see two men or women walking down the street holding hands, we're not even going to blink. But if it's on the screen, apparently it becomes thunderous," he added.

The 49-year-old filmmaker's latest film 'Widows', follows the story of four widows who try to pull off a heist after the death of their husbands.

The director believes that the film, which was completely overlooked for Golden Globes nominations, is an example of certain blindness towards stories that don't fit a certain format.

"As an artist, you have your path and that's fine. And sometimes the world won't agree with you and that's fine. I'm here hopefully for a little while and will do my work.&nbsp;

"I'm just telling a story about four women trying to get their s**t together, about the environment in which we're living, in a way that's not high heels and handbags, that's about human beings and full-on conversations," McQueen said.&nbsp;

Steve McQueen says top Hollywood bosses are scared to experiment with the films and do not want to explore diverse storylines. In an interview with The Guardian, the McQueen, best known for the Oscar-winning feature '12 Years a Slave', said people of power in Hollywood lack creative imagination.

Steve McQueen says top Hollywood bosses are scared to experiment with the films and do not want to explore diverse storylines. In an interview with The Guardian, the McQueen, best known for the Oscar-winning feature '12 Years a Slave', said people of power in Hollywood lack creative imagination. "I can't remember if there has ever been a movie about a gay person who is a detective or the lead in a romantic comedy who doesn't have a problem with their sexuality. How is that possible? Certain people of power and influence in the industry are gay yet would never think about making a movie like that," McQueen said. "What does it say about the worldview they're helping maintain? I'm not pointing fingers - I'm just saying that if we see two men or women walking down the street holding hands, we're not even going to blink. But if it's on the screen, apparently it becomes thunderous," he added. The 49-year-old filmmaker's latest film 'Widows', follows the story of four widows who try to pull off a heist after the death of their husbands. The director believes that the film, which was completely overlooked for Golden Globes nominations, is an example of certain blindness towards stories that don't fit a certain format. "As an artist, you have your path and that's fine. And sometimes the world won't agree with you and that's fine. I'm here hopefully for a little while and will do my work. "I'm just telling a story about four women trying to get their s**t together, about the environment in which we're living, in a way that's not high heels and handbags, that's about human beings and full-on conversations," McQueen said.

Hollywood does not experiment, try new ideas, says Steve McQueen

British director Steve McQueen opened the BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday with the heist movie 'Widows', kicking off the 12-day event which organisers said this year prides itself on promoting women filmmakers. 
 
At London's central Leicester Square, McQueen was joined on the red carpet by cast members Oscar winner Viola Davis, 'Black Panther'&nbsp;actor Daniel Kaluuya and 'Fast and Furious'&nbsp;regular Michelle Rodriguez. 
 
The thriller, which tells the story of a group of widows planning a heist to pay off a debt left by a crime committed by their dead husbands, is McQueen`s first major feature film since 2013`s Oscar-winning '12 Years a Slave'. 
 
Adapted from a 1980s television series by British crime writer Lynda La Plante, the Chicago-set movie touches on gender, race, politics and crime. 
 
"It would have been disingenuous to not address all those issues because it`s coursing through every fiber of American culture so it should be a part of our story telling," Davis told Reuters.&nbsp; 
 
Davis, who is black, said she felt very excited when she read the script, adding: "It becomes a no-brainer ... I always say if I turned this role down it probably would have gone to a Caucasian actress." 
 
The movie features a strong female cast and other Hollywood names such as Liam Neeson, Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell. McQueen described it as a "rollercoaster ride through our environment". 
 
"People are saying about this picture, `Oh great, they`re making movies with female leads`. In the 30s, 40s and 50s, they used to do it all the time," he said. "They were stars who were icons. Why aren`t they doing it anymore? I don`t know." 
 
Though smaller than its peers in Cannes and Venice, the BFI London Film Festival attracts its own share of glamour with many celebrities promoting their movies. 
 
This year`s event includes the world premieres of World War One film 'They Shall Not Grow Old'&nbsp;by 'Lord of the Rings'&nbsp;director Peter Jackson and 'Stan &amp; Ollie'&nbsp;about the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy.&nbsp; 
 
'The Favourite', starring 'The Crown'&nbsp;actress Olivia Colman and Oscar winners Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, also features, as does Keira Knightley`s latest period drama 'Colette'. 
 
Organisers said the spotlight would also shine on women filmmakers. 
 
"This year (we`re) really proud of the fact that 38 per cent of the films in the festival are from female directors or female co-directors," festival artistic director Tricia Tuttle said. "It`s been really important to us to find and champion female filmmakers." 
 
&nbsp;

British director Steve McQueen opened the BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday with the heist movie 'Widows', kicking off the 12-day event which organisers said this year prides itself on promoting women filmmakers.

British director Steve McQueen opened the BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday with the heist movie 'Widows', kicking off the 12-day event which organisers said this year prides itself on promoting women filmmakers. At London's central Leicester Square, McQueen was joined on the red carpet by cast members Oscar winner Viola Davis, 'Black Panther' actor Daniel Kaluuya and 'Fast and Furious' regular Michelle Rodriguez. The thriller, which tells the story of a group of widows planning a heist to pay off a debt left by a crime committed by their dead husbands, is McQueen`s first major feature film since 2013`s Oscar-winning '12 Years a Slave'. Adapted from a 1980s television series by British crime writer Lynda La Plante, the Chicago-set movie touches on gender, race, politics and crime. "It would have been disingenuous to not address all those issues because it`s coursing through every fiber of American culture so it should be a part of our story telling," Davis told Reuters. Davis, who is black, said she felt very excited when she read the script, adding: "It becomes a no-brainer ... I always say if I turned this role down it probably would have gone to a Caucasian actress." The movie features a strong female cast and other Hollywood names such as Liam Neeson, Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell. McQueen described it as a "rollercoaster ride through our environment". "People are saying about this picture, `Oh great, they`re making movies with female leads`. In the 30s, 40s and 50s, they used to do it all the time," he said. "They were stars who were icons. Why aren`t they doing it anymore? I don`t know." Though smaller than its peers in Cannes and Venice, the BFI London Film Festival attracts its own share of glamour with many celebrities promoting their movies. This year`s event includes the world premieres of World War One film 'They Shall Not Grow Old' by 'Lord of the Rings' director Peter Jackson and 'Stan & Ollie' about the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. 'The Favourite', starring 'The Crown' actress Olivia Colman and Oscar winners Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, also features, as does Keira Knightley`s latest period drama 'Colette'. Organisers said the spotlight would also shine on women filmmakers. "This year (we`re) really proud of the fact that 38 per cent of the films in the festival are from female directors or female co-directors," festival artistic director Tricia Tuttle said. "It`s been really important to us to find and champion female filmmakers."

'Widows' of Steve McQueen kicks off at BFI London Film Festival

steve-mcqueen

Steve Mcqueen, News on Steve Mcqueen, stories on Steve Mcqueen, articles on Steve Mcqueen, Steve Mcqueen stories at Wion, Steve Mcqueen news, Steve Mcqueen latest news

steve mcqueen

Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen returns to art with Tate show

Ford Mustang driven by Steve McQueen in the movie 'Bullitt' sells for $3.4 million

Hollywood does not experiment, try new ideas, says Steve McQueen

'Widows' of Steve McQueen kicks off at BFI London Film Festival