Grenfell

Grenfell (2023)

In December 2017 Steve McQueen made an artwork in response to the fire that took place earlier that year on 14 June at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, West London. 72 people died in the tragedy. Filming the tower before it was covered with hoarding, McQueen sought to create a record so that it would not be forgotten.

Date of release
2023-04-07
TMDB
7.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
24m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Steve McQueen

Interesting facts

Grenfell is an art film by Steve McQueen. It depicts the remains of the Grenfell Tower as shot from a helicopter in the aftermath of the fire at the tower in 2017. It was shown at the Serpentine Galleries in London's Hyde Park in 2023.

Production

McQueen directed the film in a single shot. He felt that it could not be shown "within three or four years" of the fire. He felt that creating the film was a "race against time" as "Once things are covered up, they are forgotten about, or it can be more convenient for people who want it to be forgotten about". He was motivated to create the film after hearing that the site was due to be wrapped in plastic by officials.

McQueen engaged with local community groups including Grenfell United and did a leaflet drop to inform people of his proposal. He encountered resistance to the project but continued to engage with residents. In an interview with The Guardian McQueen cited the decision of Mamie Till, the mother of Emmett Till who was abducted, tortured and lynched in a racially motivated attack in Mississippi in 1955 to show her son's body in an open casket as "ev…

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended