By Any Means Necessary: Spike Lee, American Provocateur

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Spike Lee (1957–) is one of the United States’ most prolific and provocative auteurs, amassing a filmography of more than 20 narrative features alongside numerous documentary projects, television shows and music videos. After graduating from Atlanta’s Morehouse College in 1979, and establishing his production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Lee enrolled in the Graduate Film Program at New York University, where he was classmates with Jim Jarmusch and Ang Lee.

As an up-and-coming independent filmmaker in the 1980s, Lee was an integral figure of the “New Black Cinema”. His low-to-mid budget commercial hits of this time such as She’s Gotta Have It (1986) and Do the Right Thing (1989) grappled with the complexities of Black cultural identity, racism, endemic violence and gender dynamics in unapologetically direct, combative and confronting ways.

Through a vibrant cinematic language of saturated colours, double-dolly shots, pastiche and fourth-wall-breaking direct address, Lee has developed a practice defined by a “creatively restless experimentation with theme, image, directorial style, camera shots [and] social issues”, all “while not being committed to a particular genre” (Ed Guerrero).

This season highlights the wide-ranging scope of Lee’s oeuvre, traversing pressing political, cultural and social issues facing America through some of its most significant historical events of the last 60 years including the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 4 Little Girls (1997) and the aftermath of 9/11 in 25th Hour (2002). Showcasing the breadth of his filmmaking, these celebrated dramas and documentary films are rounded out by two key but lesser-known genre explorations: the musical School Daze (1988) and the crime thriller Summer of Sam (1999).

Co-presented with the Sydney Cinémathèque, Art Gallery of New South Wales.