Article relating to an individual, 2009
Published by: Cineaste
Year published: 2009
Number of pages: 4

Major feature on Steve McQueen’s film, Hunger. A substantial four page article comprising an examination of the film by Gary Crowdus, followed by an interview between Crowdus and McQueen. “We spoke with McQueen about Hunger, focussing on its unusual narrative approach and its striking cinematic qualities, in September 2008, when the filmmaker was in town for screenings of his film at the New York Film Festival.”

The feature was illustrated with a small uncredited photograph of McQueen, plus three stills from the film. Crowdus’ approach sets this feature apart from much of the media attention the film garnered. The Human Body as Political Weapon is perhaps a more reasoned, measured, and intelligent examination of the film than some of the film’s features in celebrity or glamour magazines. To a large extent, this is reflective of the magazine in which this feature appears. American magazine Cineaste describes itself as ‘America’s leading magazine on the art and politics of the cinema’. Crowdus is Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the magazine.

Two quotes in bold are isolated from the text, to draw in the reader’s attention. From Crowdus: “Telling the Bobby Sands story, with a focus on the raw physical experience of prison and the hunger strike, with the partisan politics replaced by a more humanist perspective.”

Overleaf, from McQueen “Politicians make situations but I’m interested in how people respond to their situations. That’s what it’s all about really. I don’t think Hunger is a political film, it’s a human film.”

Cineaste, Spring 2009, Vol. XXXIV No. 2, pp. 22 - 25