Interview With "Occupied City" Director Steve McQueen & Producer Bianca Stigter

The Next Best Picture Podcast

Tv & Film

4.2 • 542 Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2023

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"Occupied City" had its world premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival, where it received positive reviews for its striking vision from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen ("12 Years A Slave") as he and his producing partner (and real-life partner) Bianca Stigter ("Three Minutes: A Lengthening") adapted her picture book "Atlas of an Occupied City, Amsterdam 1940-1945" during COIVD and shot on location in Amsterdam. The 262-minute long film was further screened at the Telluride Film Festival and the New York Film Festival (which is where this interview took place) and will be released by A24 theatrically this Christmas. McQueen and Stigter were kind enough to spend some time talking with me about the film, which has now been nominated for three Critics Choice Documentary Awards, including Best Historical Documentary, Best Director, and Best Cinematography. Please be sure to take a listen and check out the film, which will be playing in limited release on December 25th from A24. Thank you, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/nextbestpicturepodcast Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You are listening to the Next Best Picture podcast and this is my interview with the director and producer for Occupied City Academy Award winning filmmaker Steve McQueen and his producing partner, Bianca Stigter.
0:14.0	In May 1940, Amsterdam was taken over by the Germans.
0:21.6	Immediately, they set the clock forward,
0:23.6	so it was the same time in Amsterdam as in Berlin.
0:26.6	The weather report disappeared from the newspapers.
0:29.6	It was now a military secret.
0:32.6	All streetlights were turned off.
0:34.6	Dutch organisations were Nazi-fied or forbidden.
0:39.3	Soon, the Nazis started to banjews from parks, pools, shops, cafes and schools, from all public life.
0:47.3	Music by Jewish composers could no longer be played.
0:56.0	In 1941, they started rounding people up.
1:01.0	In 1942, the deportations began.
1:04.0	Hello everyone and welcome to the Next Best Picture podcast.
1:07.0	I am being joined right now by the director of Occupied City, Steve McQueen, and the producer
1:13.7	of the film, Bianca Stigter. Bianca, Steve, how are both of you doing today?
1:19.6	Good, good. Ben has got a bit of a cough, I think. A bit of cold, but I hope it could well.
1:26.5	It's that cold New York City weather, times are changing.
1:29.3	I suppose there might be some coffin, but there you go. Life goes on.
1:33.3	Life goes on, indeed it does. And life goes on, as illustrated in occupied city,
1:37.3	as you are attempting to connect the past to the present here,
1:42.3	showcasing the city of Amsterdam, both in its modern day
1:46.5	setting and also through this historical context of what took place there between 1940,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Next Best Picture Podcast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Next Best Picture Podcast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.