Steve McQueen’s World War II Drama ‘Blitz’ with Saoirse Ronan to Close 62nd New York Film Festival

Film at Lincoln Center announced today that Steve McQueen’s Blitz, starring Saoirse Ronan and Elliott Heffernan, as the Closing Night selection of the 62nd New York Film Festival, making its North American premiere on October 10 at Alice Tully Hall.

Presented by Film at Lincoln Center, the New York Film Festival is an annual showcase of the best in world cinema. Since 1963, NYFF has shaped film culture and continues an enduring tradition of introducing audiences to bold and remarkable works from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The 62nd edition of the festival takes place September 27–October 14, 2024.

Blitz, an authentic and astonishing recreation of London during its blitzkrieg by the Germans during World War II, pushes the artistry of Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, NYFF51) to ever more impressive levels. Working on a vast scale, McQueen sets things at human eye level, telling his original tale from the parallel perspectives of working-class single mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) and her 9-year-old son, George (newcomer Elliott Heffernan), as they become separated within the labyrinth of a city under siege. Alternately overwhelming and tender, McQueen’s dazzling film offers a multicultural portrait of 1940s London too infrequently seen on screens. While Ronan and Heffernan emotionally match one another beat for beat, the supporting cast, including Kathy Burke, Benjamin Clémentine, Harris Dickinson, Stephen Graham, Hayley Squires, and Paul Weller, is uniformly superb, fleshing out a film that feels positively Dickensian in its scope and storytelling. An Apple Original Film, Blitz will premiere in theaters on November 1 ahead of its global premiere on Apple TV+ on November 22.

The film stars Academy Award and BAFTA Award nominee Saoirse Ronan and newcomer Elliott Heffernan, with Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, Stephen Graham, Leigh Gill, Mica Ricketts, CJ Beckford, Alex Jennings, Joshua McGuire, Hayley Squires, Erin Kellyman, and Sally Messham. Blitz was directed, produced, and written by Steve McQueen, whose Lammas Park produces alongside Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films, and Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan, and Michael Schaefer for New Regency, with producers Anita Overland and Adam Somner.

“It is with immense pride, gratitude, and fondness that I’m able to return to the New York Film Festival with Blitz,” said McQueen. “I’ve been lucky enough to have enjoyed a number of memorable experiences at the festival and with New York audiences, and I’m enormously grateful to have been invited back for Closing Night.”

“Blitz is a vivid and visceral depiction of life during wartime, a meticulous historical account that resonates unmistakably with our current age of endless war,” said Dennis Lim, Artistic Director, New York Film Festival. “We are thrilled to welcome back to the festival Steve McQueen, one of the most daring artists at work today, with one of the greatest achievements of his career.”

The Closing Night selection continues the relationship between McQueen and the New York Film Festival that began in 2008 with the premiere of his debut feature, Hunger (NYFF46). In 2020, three of the five works in his acclaimed Small Axe anthology were featured in NYFF58, with Lovers Rock presented as the Opening Night selection, and Mangrove and Red, White and Blue shown in the Main Slate section. Blitz is McQueen’s eighth film in the festival; additional titles that have been featured are Shame (NYFF49), 12 Years a Slave (NYFF51), and Occupied City (NYFF61).

Academy Award winner and British Film Institute Fellow Steve McQueen is a British artist and filmmaker. His critically acclaimed first feature, Hunger (NYFF46), starring Michael Fassbender as an IRA hunger-striker, won the Camera D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He reteamed with Fassbender for his follow-up feature, Shame (NYFF49), for which Fassbender won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival. McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave (NYFF51) dominated the awards season, winning the Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and AAFCA Awards for Best Picture while McQueen received DGA, Academy, BAFTA, and Golden Globe directing nods. His fourth feature, Widows (2018), starring Viola Davis, was one of the best reviewed films of the year. In 2020, McQueen’s anthology series Small Axe was awarded Best Picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and received 15 BAFTA Television nominations. Three of the five films in the series played at the 58th New York Film Festival, with Lovers Rock opening the fest, and two of the five selected for the 2020 Cannes Film Festival.

McQueen’s last work was the 2023 documentary feature, Occupied City (NYFF61), an excavation of the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. McQueen also co-directed and produced the BAFTA-winning three-part series Uprising (2021) and served as a co-producer on Three Minutes – A Lengthening (2021), directed and co-written by Bianca Stigter.

The recipient of many accolades for his work as a visual artist, McQueen was awarded with the Turner Prize in 1999, and represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2009. He has exhibited and held his artwork in major museums around the world. 

Secure tickets with Festival Passes, limited quantities on sale now. Single tickets for the general public go on sale September 17 at noon ET, with pre-sale access for FLC Members and Pass holders prior to this date.