THE POPCORN REEL FROM OVER HERE:
COVERAGE OF THE 61ST CANNES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, MAY 14 THROUGH MAY 27,
2008
Spike Lee Mixes Politics and Basketball At Cannes
Filmmaker Spike Lee is all smiles yesterday during a
photo call in Cannes, France at the town's 61st Film Festival, for his new film
"Miracle At St. Anna". (Photo: Francois Durand/Getty Images Europe)
By
Omar P.L. Moore/The
Popcorn Reel
May 21, 2008
On the Croissette yesterday at Cannes, filmmaker Spike Lee was enjoying a photo
call for "Miracle At St. Anna", his new epic film which will be finish
post-production in July and will be released on October 10 in the U.S. and
Canada by Touchstone Pictures. The Atlanta-born, New York raised filmmaker
and Morehouse College and New York University film school graduate was in France
to give a sneak showing of his new film, which is based on James McBride's
fictional novel weaving factual events about black soldiers in the U.S. Army --
a Buffalo Soldier squadron -- who fought in World War Two and found more
friendship and were treated better by and among the Axis enemy Italy on their
travels than they did amongst their own fellow brethren U.S. soldiers.
Yesterday Mr. Lee announced that his next film would be a feature documentary on
basketball legend Michael Jordan, which the National Basketball Association will
finance. The director, a big-time New York Knicks basketball fan and
Senator Barack Obama supporter also had occasion to add politics to the mix,
which for Mr. Lee is hardly surprising. But with the disclosure of the new
documentary on Mr. Jordan it seemed like an irresistible opportunity to add a
comment or two when prompted about what he saw as a miracle of another kind: the
chance Senator Hillary Clinton has to win the U.S. Democratic presidential
nomination.
Mr. Lee, using a basketball analogy about a team trailing by at least ten points
with only a few seconds before the game ends, said: "The score is set -- there's
only so much time left on the clock. And she's calling time outs, having
her players do intentional fouls. And all it's doing is dragging out the
outcome of the game. But it's over. O-V-A-H. Over. Let
me go Brooklyn on you: over."
CNN Video:
Spike Lee Mixes Basketball And Politics At Cannes -- click here
Related:
Spike Lee, Doing The American Thing
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