Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen’s “Mangrove”, a true story-inspired drama, will open the 64th British Film Institute London Film Festival. “Mangrove”, which is making its European premiere at the festival, is one of the five films from McQueen’s Small Axe anthology for BBC One.

Starring “Black Panther” star Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes and Malachi Kirby, the film will be showcased on 7 October as part of the festival’s innovative 12-day offering, which takes it to cities around the UK, with many films across the programme also available for virtual premieres at home, the festival organizers said in a release. Marking 50 years since the events depicted in the film, “Mangrove” tells the true story of the Mangrove 9, the group of black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970 and their highly publicised trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behaviour motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police. McQueen, best known for his films “Shame” and “12 Years A Slave”,wrote“Mangrove” with Alastair Siddons. “I couldn’t be happier that ‘Mangrove’ will open this year’s BFI London Film Festival. Although the themes are universal, Mangrove is a London story. It may have happened 50 years ago, but it’s as relevant today as it was then,” McQueen said in a statement.

This year, festival audiences will be invited to book tickets to preview the film for free at venues across the UK on Wednesday 7 October ahead of its broadcast on BBC One this autumn. Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival Director, said: “This new series from Oscar-winning director and BFI Fellow Steve McQueen could not be more timely in the context of recent global protests around anti-black racism and inequality, and McQueen has been a powerful voice in challenging the status quo and demanding inclusion within the British film industry. “His ‘Widows’ also opened the 62nd BFI London Film Festival in 2018 and we have never had the same filmmaker open the LFF twice in such a close time frame; that’s both a testament to the urgency of the film and potency of his filmmaking.” The 64th BFI London Film Festival will take place from Wednesday 7 October to Sunday 18 October 2020.