Film / TVRace

spike lee turned the film industry on its head and opened doors for countless black creatives

March 20, 2018
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As a storyteller, Spike Lee’s presence in the film industry ushered in the first wave of mainstream black filmmaking. With the release of his first hit movie, “She’s Gotta Have It” all the way up to that iconic film now being retold for a new generation of young people on Netflix, few people have changed the art form as much as Lee. Whether it’s his uniquely theatrical direction and the normalization of fourth-wall breaking, as seen in Do The Right Thing and School Daze, as well as recapturing black history to memorialize our figures and experiences through the black lens, like he did with films like Malcolm X and Chi-Raq and documentaries like When The Leeves Broke.
You know, in addition to propelling the careers of *countless* artists of color like Rosie Perez, John Turturro, Samuel L. Jackson, and Black Panther costume designer Ruth E. Carter who has worked on all of Lee’s projects.

So Happy 61st Birthday to the legend, the man, our friend Spike Lee!

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