One of the big contenders at next year’s Oscars is expected to be the new British World War II film Blitz.

Today the first trailer arrived for Oscar-winner Sir Steve McQueen’s latest movie starring Saoirse Ronan in a role that could finally win her an Academy Award.

The official synopsis reads: “Sir Steve McQueen’s Blitz follows the epic journey of George (Elliott Heffernan), a 9-year-old boy in World War II London whose mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside.

“George, defiant and determined to return home to his mom and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, embarks on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril, while a distraught Rita searches for her missing son.”

Written and directed by McQueen, the new film co-stars Harris Dickinson, Stephen Graham and Alex Jennings.

Blitz will open the BFI London Film Festival on October 9 before a release in select cinemas on November 1 and then will head to streaming on Apple TV+ from November 22, 2024.