When Small Axe premiered in 2020, many were quick to identify which of the individual films was best or most cinematic or most engaging. In this online conversation, we’ll discuss how the intricacies of the anthology’s aesthetic, structural and thematic ambitions only works when we think of it as a single piece where each piece works as a polyphonic part of a larger whole. This reading, where McQueen realizes the dramatic possibilities of an anthology, is central to fully inhabiting the searing message of communality and togetherness (despite differences) that is so important to the Jamaican proverb the series gets its name from. It is community, and not individual fragmentation, that assures success; and similarly it is the collectivism of the Windrush generation that forms the “small axe” that confronts the blindness of the British empire.
Admission is free. Registration is required: bit.ly/svzeitgeist
