Spike Lee: Life in Film

Take a look at the fearless filmmaker's groundbreaking work in celebration of his birthday!

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She’s Gotta Have It (1986)  - Today is Spike Lee's birthday, check out a trip down memory lane via the Oscar nominee's films.  A young Spike Lee ushered in the new era of independent Black filmmaking with She’s Gotta Have It, a film he shot on a budget of $175,000. (It went on to make $7 million.) About a urban professional Black woman and her three lovers, the film—eschewing the pimp-ho-criminal-brute focus of many Hollywood Black movies—is a not only a breath of fresh air, but a game changer, paving the way for a Black cinema resurregence in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.(Photo: 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks)
School Daze (1988) - Wanting to illustrate the tension between Black college students and Black Atlanta locals, Spike Lee cast Jackson as Leeds, a Jheri curl-wearing street tough guy who tried to remind a Black student leader (Laurence Fishburne) that he's just a n----r. Again, a classic performance.(Photo: Courtesy Columbia Pictures)
Do the Right Thing (1989) - In Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, which illuminated the ethnic tensions of a Brooklyn neighborhood, Jackson played Mister Señor Love Daddy, a radio DJ who worked to keep folks level-headed and in the groove.(Photo: Courtesy 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks)Malcolm X (1992) - brooklyngal ‏@moneorange: "@BET we didnt land on plymouth rock plymouth rock landed on us! #malcolmx #blackmoviequotes"(Photo: 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks)

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She’s Gotta Have It (1986) - A young Spike Lee ushered in the new era of independent Black filmmaking with "She’s Gotta Have It," a film he shot on a budget of $175,000, which went on to make $7 million. About a urban professional Black woman and her three lovers, the film—eschewing the pimp-ho-criminal-brute focus of many Hollywood Black movies—was not only a breath of fresh air, but a game changer, paving the way for a Black cinema resurgence in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. In 2017, "She's Gotta Have It" became a series on Netflix for two seasons. (Photo: 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks)

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