The anthology, particularly the films "Mangrove" and "Lovers Rock", received numerous accolades and appeared on several critics' top ten lists. "Lovers Rock" was the top-ranked film in Sight & Sound's best films of 2020, an aggregation of top 10 lists by the magazine's contributors. Both "Mangrove" and "Lovers Rock" were selected for Cannes in 2020, and had the festival not been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Steve McQueen would have been the first director to have two films in competition in Cannes in the same year.