![]() Even though it took place in the '70s, we still wanted it to be contemporary." "We did not want this to just be a history lesson. "That was one of the things we wanted to do, connect the past to the present," Lee said. Released one day before the one-year anniversary of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, the film closes with footage from Charlottesville. In 2018, Lee again dove into the topic of race relations with BlacKkKlansman, the story of an African-American detective's success at infiltrating the KKK in the 1970s. In March of 2002, Lee became the artistic director of NYU's Kanbar Institute of Film and Television. He has taught at New York University and also at Harvard. Through his production company 40 Acres and A Mule Filmworks, Lee continues to create and direct both independent films and projects for major studios, as well as working on story development, creating an internship program for aspiring filmmakers, releasing music, and community outreach and support. That year, the acclaimed filmmaker also received an honorary Oscar at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' annual Governors Awards. Lee's 2015 film Chi-Raq, an adaptation of Aristophanes's Lysistrata set in modern-day Chicago, was the first feature produced by Amazon Studios. In 2012, he reprised his Do the Right Thing character of Mookie in Red Hook Summer. ![]() Lee followed with a variety of projects, including documentaries of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson and a remake of the Korean revenge film Oldboy. Anna, about four African-American soldiers trapped in an Italian village during World War II, was praised for bringing the oft-overlooked experience of black infantrymen, known as Buffalo Soldiers, to the big screen. Other commercial clients include Converse, Taco Bell and Ben & Jerry's. Lee has also had success in directing television commercials, most famously opposite Michael Jordan in Nike's Air Jordan campaign. He also did well at the box office that year with the crime caper Inside Man, starring Clive Owen, Jodie Foster and Denzel Washington. In 2006, Lee directed and produced a four-hour documentary for television, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, about life in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I'm going to keep working toward that day coming." But I think it's something we have to strive for. I don't think racism can be eliminated in my lifetime, or my children's or grandchildren's. "I think the best thing my films can do is provoke discussion. "I don't think my films are going to get rid of racism or prejudice," said Lee in an interview. 4 Little Girls, a documentary about the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1998. Subsequent films, including Malcolm X, Mo' Better Blues, Summer of Sam and She Hates Me, continued to explore social and political issues. His 1989 film, Do the Right Thing, examined all of the above and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. No stranger to controversy for certain provocative elements in both his films and public statements, Lee often takes a critical look at race relations, political issues and urban crime and violence. The film was shot in two weeks and cost $175,000 to make, but grossed more than $7 million at the box office, making it one of the most profitable films created in 1986 and allowing him to found his own production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks in Fort Greene. Lee became a director of promise with his first feature film, She's Gotta Have It, in 1986. ![]() ![]() His thesis film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, won a Student Academy Award. Lee went on to graduate from the New York University Film School in 1982. His first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn, was completed when he was an undergraduate at Morehouse College. "I didn't know, I wanted to do something with film until the summer between my sophomore and junior years at Morehouse College in Atlanta." "I didn't dream about being a director," said Lee. Growing up in a relatively well-off African-American family, Lee was making amateur films by age 20. Actor, director, producer and writer Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia, and soon moved to Fort Greene.
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