Occupied City

Our “Come to Stay” section features longer format documentaries that explore current social conditions and, as in this case, contextualize them in relation to the past. Without eyewitness accounts or historical archival material, and relying solely on modern-day footage of the city, the monumental documentary essay OCCUPIED CITY tells the story of Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation. Taking the research conducted by Bianca Stigter for her Atlas of an Occupied City, Amsterdam 1940–1945 into 2,000 addresses and the people who lived at them, Steve McQueen visits 130 locations in his adopted city. The camera captures the interior and exterior views of homes and public buildings, such as schools and museums, as well as streets, canals, squares and parks where atrocities took place—showing them as they are today, with 21st-century people going about their daily lives, while a woman’s off-screen narration calmly recounts what happened at each individual location. (bik)