Steve McQueen’s Blitz becomes the closing night selection at the NY Film Festival

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 2024 NY Film Festival has now found its closing night title with Blitz, which comes from director Steve McQueen. McQueen directs, writes, and serves as a producer on the film, featuring stories of Londoners during the blitzkrieg of World War II. The historical drama stars Saoirse Ronan and Elliot Heffernan.

The story, according to THR, “is told from the parallel perspectives of working-class single mother Rita (Ronan) and her 9-year-old son George (Heffernan) as they become separated in the city under siege.” Blitz finds McQueen back at New Regency, who he partnered with for 2013’s 12 Years a Slave and 2018’s Widows, starring Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debbicki, Cynthia Erivo and Colin Farrell. McQueen produces through his Lammas Park studio, with Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films. Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan, and Michael Schaefer produce via New Regency. Blitz hails from Apple Original Films.

McQueen has stated, “It is with immense pride, gratitude, and fondness that I’m able to return to the New York Film Festival with Blitz. 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.”

Dennis Lim, the NYFF artistic director, adds, “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. 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 film is set to have its North American premiere on October 10 at Alice Tully Hall. Meanwhile, the Apple film will hit theaters on November 1 ahead of its release on Apple TV+ on November 22.