top of page
  • Writer's pictureCinelab Film & Digital

BAFTA TV Awards 2021: Steve McQueen's Small Axe leads with 15 nominations

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominations for the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Television Craft Awards.


Congratulations to the whole Small Axe team! Such fantastic news they are leading the field with 15 incredible nominations, and they have achieved the most nominations for a show in the Awards history.


'Small Axe' is an anthology series which comprises of five original films by Academy Award, Bafta and Golden Globe-winning Filmmaker, Director and Writer Sir Steve McQueen. The acclaimed landmark BBC/Amazon Prime series is set from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, each film tells a different story involving London's West Indian community, whose lives have been shaped by their own force of will, despite rampant racism and discrimination. .


Cinelab London are extremely proud to have worked closely with Director of Photography Shabier Kirchner and his team to help realise McQueen's creative vision.


Services provided include 16mm and 35mm Film Processing, Film Dailies, Film Scanning and Deliverables across the five films.


Want to know more? Read our Small Axe case study here:


Small Axe presented a challenge, since it's a set of five original films, each using a separate cast and telling a different story through different time periods, Director of Photography: Shabier Kirchner was asked by McQueen to shoot each film in an uniquely appropriate format with its own individual lighting characteristics.

Episode 1 ‘Mangrove’ is the first in the series, feature length (shot on 35mm)

Episode 2 is ‘Lover’s Rock’ (digital)

Episode 3 ‘Red, White and Blue’ (shot on 35mm)

Episode 4 ‘Alex Wheatle’ (digital)

Episode 5 ‘Education’ (shot on 16mm) is the fifth and final in the series.



bottom of page