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Director Matsoukas says 'Queen & Slim' debut tells story of 'my people'

Director Melina Matsoukas said making the jump from directing music videos for Beyonce to directing "Queen & Slim" for the big screen has given her the chance to tell what she calls a "necessary" story about "black people, my people".

Hanna Rantala (Reuters)
London, United Kingdom
Thu, January 30, 2020

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Director Matsoukas says 'Queen & Slim' debut tells story of 'my people' Actress Jodie Turner-Smith, director/producer Melina Matsoukas, actor and executive producer Daniel Kaluuya and writer/producer Lena Waithe arrive for the AFI Opening Night Gala premiere of 'Queen & Slim' at the TCL Chinese Theatre on November 14, 2019 in Hollywood. (AFP/Frederic J. Brown)

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irector Melina Matsoukas said making the jump from directing music videos for Beyonce to directing Queen & Slim for the big screen has given her the chance to tell what she calls a "necessary" story about "black people, my people".

Matsoukas was on the red carpet for the premiere of her directorial debut in London, just days before the BAFTA awards, Britain's acting awards, which have been criticized by some for their lack of diversity.

As the BAFTA's all-white line-up of nominees in the acting categories trends on social media as #BaftasSoWhite, audiences looking for more diversity will find it in Queen & Slim.

Matsoukas' drama is about a black couple whose Tinder date ends with the duo on the run after they kill a white police officer in self-defense.

"When I read the script it was everything I had been looking for in a feature - it was political, it had something to say, it felt really necessary and it was entertaining," Matsoukas told Reuters at the film's London premiere.

"It also represented a community of people - black people, my people - that we don't always see on screen and I really wanted to tell our stories to our lens, unfiltered, and we were able to do that."

Read also: '1917' scoops top Hollywood director prize for Mendes

Actors Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith joined Matsoukas on the red carpet to celebrate ahead of the film's release in Britain on Jan. 31.

The film opens with Kaluuya and Turner-Smith’s characters "Slim" and "Queen" on an awkward date that appears to be going nowhere.

Driving home along a deserted Cleveland street after dinner, they are pulled over by a lone white police officer and become involved in an altercation that results in Queen being shot in the leg and Slim killing the policeman in self-defense.

Turner-Smith said she hoped the subject matter started conversations for people.

"The film doesn't really have an answer to any of the issues it raises, it's really just bringing them up to light and talking about it, that trauma, that tension, that fear, that black people live in and at the same time being able to exist and find love," she said.

The film opened in the United States in late November 2019.

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