December 25, 2023 - Starting @1pm, 4pm, 6pm
From 1940 until 1945, Nazis ruled Amsterdam, which suffered massive deportations, collaborators, a general strike uprising, and a punishing blockade that resulted in the 1944-45 “Hunger Winter” famine. OCCUPIED CITY is a massive exploration into the city’s wartime history, inspired by historian/filmmaker Bianca Stigter’s Atlas of an Occupied City, Amsterdam 1940-1945. Eschewing the conventions of World War II documentaries (interviews, archival footage, photographs), Academy Award winner Steve McQueen (12 YEARS A SLAVE) presents only contemporary footage of the city, accompanied by hauntingly matter-of-fact narration, to trace the effects of the occupation on human lives block by block, address by address.
