AMSTERDAM.- The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam presents a 34-hour version of the British director and artist Steve McQueen’s epic film Occupied City. McQueen, who won an Oscar for his film 12 Years a Slave, has created two interlocking portraits: a door-to-door excavation of the occupation during World War II that still haunts the city today, and a vivid journey through the years of the pandemic. One version of the extraordinary work, Occupied City (still), will be shown continuously on the south façade of the museum from 12 September 2025 to 25 January 2026. In the auditorium of the Rijksmuseum a version of the 34-hour film with sound and voice-over will be shown during the museum’s opening hours. The film covers more than 2000 addresses and is based on Atlas of an Occupied City. Amsterdam 1940-1945, by the historian and filmmaker Bianca Stigter. The presentation coincides with Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary and the commemoration of 80 years of liberation.

"The work invites reflection on themes such as occupation, persecution and freedom. The two versions of Occupied City act differently. Occupied City (still) which is mounted on the façade of the Rijksmuseum, holds up a mirror to the city. It presents the daily life of contemporary Amsterdam, which sits on 750 years of history. At its core is the magnitude of what has taken place right here during the Second World War. You couldn’t possibly hold it all in your head and the passage of time has covered most of it. Living in Amsterdam feels like living with ghosts. There are always two or three parallel narratives unfolding at once. The past is always present." -- Steve McQueen

"Collaborating with Steve McQueen has long been a cherished wish. In Occupied City, McQueen powerfully interweaves the invisible scars of the Second World War with the contemporary rhythm of Amsterdam. As a Brit living in Amsterdam, he allows us to see our own present and past through different eyes." -- Taco Dibbits – General Director of the Rijksmuseum

Silent

The silent version of the film that is shown on the façade of the Rijksmuseum, Occupied City (still), is a portrait of contemporary Amsterdam in all its facets, from the mundane to the monumental, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. We see people celebrating, commemorating and protesting; daydreaming, waiting, working and playing. From the outskirts to the centre, Amsterdam is seen to be alive. The film was shot between 2020 and 2023, as the COVID pandemic took place as well as the Black Lives Matter demonstrations and Climate Change marches.

Occupation

But the work also incorporates an older history. At the centre of the film is Amsterdam’s occupation during the Second World War. In the Rijksmuseum’s auditorium the film will be shown with an English voice-over and Dutch subtitles. This version reveals the human stories and tragedies resulting from occupation, oppression, terror and the persecution of Jews and other groups by the Nazi regime, stories that lie hidden behind the façades, streets and squares of the city.

2000 addresses

The film travels to over 2000 addresses across the city to uncover what took place behind each façade in the years of the Nazi occupation. The emotional power of these stories accumulates over the course of the film and what emerges is both devastating and life-affirming, an expansive meditation on time and memory.