Spike Lee attended the first-ever public screening in Saudi Arabia of “Malcolm X” on Saturday during the Red Sea Film Festival. The film shot key scenes in Mecca, over 30 years ago, but has never been screened in the kingdom, due to the 35-year ban on cinemas that only ended in December 2017.On Sunday, at a press conference, Lee gave his take on filmmaking, while often referencing the Soccer World Cup, currently underway in neighboring Qatar. “Everything for me is...
40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
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Lee’s planned movie musical about the birth of erectile-dysfunction drug Viagra, based on an Esquire article by David Kushner, never did materialize in 2022, but the filmmaker did get some good news in March by way of a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of America. He kicked off a new deal between his prodco, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, and Netflix, which previously worked with him on the Vietnam war drama “Da 5 Bloods” and the series adaptation of his 1986 feature breakthrough “She’s Gotta Have It.” His first project under the pact is director Stefon Bristol’s documentary “Gordon Hemingway & the Realm of Cthulhu,” which he is producing. Lee also began production on a multi-part documentary about activist and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick that he is directing for ESPN Films.