Academy Award-winner and director Spike Lee is in Montreal serving as the honorary president of the 20th edition of the Montreal International Black Film Festival.
“To support a great festival, a festival that’s introducing black filmmakers to the world, filmmakers who need exposure for the people’s theater work and hopefully lead to them continuing to be a filmmaker, you know, and make films, get deals, tell your stories,” said Spike Lee in an interview with CityNews in downtown Montreal.
Known for films such as Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X and BlacKkKlansman, Lee is returning to the festival for the fourth time and is giving an intimate talk about his career as a filmmaker, writer, actor and producer.
The prolific 67-year-old director will also offer his take on filmmaking, share advice to other filmmakers on the seventh art and give his perspective on the future of Black films and diversity in cinema.
“My advice to filmmakers, which doesn’t matter, you know, what the nationality is, everybody has a phone, everybody has a laptop, start, start,” explained Lee. “You’re not coming out in the jump from the giddy-up doing feature films. Start doing five, ten minute films, learn to tell your stories.”
Lee also plans to speak about current socio-economic issues as well as addressing the upcoming U.S. election with the possibility of having Kamala Harris as the first Black woman president.
“For those who saw Do The Right Thing, the great character played by my friend who’s no longer here, Bill Nunn, a Morehouse brother, he wore some rings,” said Lee, adding, “one’s that love, one’s that hate. So I’ll let the audience decide who’s who between my sister and this other guy.”
Lee is currently finishing work on his next film starring long time collaborator Denzel Washington.
“It’s called Highest to Lowest. It’s a reinterpret, not a remake, reinterpretation of the film by the great Japanese film, Akira Kurosawa, and his great film, High and Low,” explained Lee.
“Denzel Washington is playing the Toshiro Mifune character. And were post-production, and this is the fifth film between Denzel and I.”