Iconic Director

Social Realism in film has seen a huge development in the 21st century, with films such as Train Spotting (Danny Boyle), This is England and Dead Man's Shoes (Shane Meadows).

Film director Steve McQueen is well known for his films Hunger (2008) and 12 Years a Slave (2013).  His film Hunger was based on the story of Bobby Sands, an Irish republican who leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.

Hunger won the prestigious Camera d'Or award for first-time film makers at the Cannes film festival in 2008, went on to win the Sydney Film Prize at the Sydney Film Festival, it also received two BAFTA nominations, winning one, and was also nominated for eight awards at the 2009 IFTA's, winning six.

Responses included:

• Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times - "Hunger is not about the rights and wrongs of the British in Northern Ireland, but about inhumane prison conditions, the steeled determination of IRA members like Bobby Sands, and a rock and a hard place."
•  Peter Travers of Rolling Stone - "Shockingly immediate and philosophically reflective, Hunger is an indelibly moving tribute to what makes us human." and praised "... McQueen's way of showing the body itself as an arsenal, arguably the last weapon any of us have to fight back."

McQueen's films focus on modern issues and captivate the audience, I have taken inspiration from his films while developing my our own work.