Steve McQueen's BBC anthology TV series Small Axe will instead become five movies dedicated to George Floyd

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Small Axe was announced a year ago as a six-episode anthology series starring John Boyega and Letitia Wright exploring a small West Indian community in West London across three decades, from 1968 to 2014. Instead, it will become a five-movie series that will premiere at Cannes. “I dedicate these films to George Floyd and all the other black people that have been murdered, seen or unseen, because of who they are, in the US, UK and elsewhere,” McQueen said. “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe. Black Lives Matter.” According to the BBC, Small Axe's title is "derived from an African proverb, which has resonance throughout the Caribbean, ‘if you are the big tree, we are the small axe.’ This was made popular by Bob Marley and the Wailers with the song ‘Small Axe’ from the 1973 album ‘Burnin.'”