Spike Lee Holds His Breath For Sundance Magic

One of the more anticipated premieres at Sundance is the newest self-financed film from an icon of independent cinema, Spike Lee. He brings his new film RED HOOK SUMMER to Sundance without a distributor in place, a situation that he has not faced since the start of his career. Lee, who also has directed some big budget Hollywood projects, finds himself in the same situation as hundreds of other directors, hoping for a bite from a distributor. RED HOOK SUMMER is set in Lee’s home base of Brooklyn, New York, and tells the story of a young man who spends the summer with his pastor relative and also comments on the rapid gentrification that is changing the face of the borough. The film is very definitely about the African-American experience and harkens back to Lee’s early films including the classics SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT and DO THE RIGHT THING. With the exception of the films of Tyler Perry and the mixed cast film THE HELP, films focused on African-Americans have not performed all that well at the US box office and are seen as a non-starter in the international marketplace. For Lee, who has only been to Sundance once before, the experience is a chance to jumpstart his career by revisiting the themes that made him a sensation twenty years ago. For more information on the film, visit: http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120133/red_hook_summer

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