February 16th: CHI-RAQ (Spike Lee, 2015)
NOTE: This film will be projected in the high-definition Blu-ray format.
As a protest against the high number of local deaths due to gang violence, a Chicago group of African-American women deny sex to their male partners.
This decade has seen Spike Lee return to more independent filmmaking; his 2012 film Red Hook Summer featured a crew made up mostly of his NYU film school students, and 2014's Da Sweet Blood of Jesus was funded through Kickstarter. Lee resurrected an old, unproduced script from writer-director Kevin Wilmott based on the Ancient Greece play Lysistrata, with the idea to transfer the story to Chicago, currently dealing with an alarming spike in homicides and gang-related violence.
Lee and Wilmott made the decision to write most of the script's dialogue in verse and retain various Greek character names in tribute to its source. After arriving in Chicago to do local research, they joined forces with Catholic priest and social activist Father Michael Pfleger, a white clergyman stationed in a black neighborhood who introduced the pair to many families of murder victims. The script was completed with up-to-date observations about Chicago as well as gun violence and systematic racism across the country.
The production courted controversy before shooting was even completed; Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel of other officials objected to the film's title, despite its usage already being common among South Side residents. Threats were made to withhold tax credits normally given to productions made in the city.
Starring in the film are Teyonah Parris (Dear White People, "Dawn" on TV's Mad Men) and rapper Nick Cannon, as well as former collaborators Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett, Wesley Snipes, and actors John Cusack, Dave Chappelle, Harry Lennix (The Matrix films), and D.B. Sweeney. Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls), whose mother, brother, and nephew were all shot and killed in Chicago in 2008, joined the cast and was an outspoken supporter.
Various returning collaborators were behind the camera, including costume designer Ruth E. Carter (working with Lee since his 1988 sophomore effort School Daze), score composer Terence Blanchard (Malcolm X, 25th Hour), and cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Requiem For A Dream, Straight Outta Compton).
Chi-raq made history by being the first feature film distributed by online retailer Amazon. It received a limited theatrical release before appearing on Amazon's VOD service. It received mostly positive reviews, with many critics calling it Lee's strongest work in many years. Some critics (and Chicago residents) took issue with Lee turning a serious issue into a musical satire.
Running time is approx. 2 hours.
As a protest against the high number of local deaths due to gang violence, a Chicago group of African-American women deny sex to their male partners.
This decade has seen Spike Lee return to more independent filmmaking; his 2012 film Red Hook Summer featured a crew made up mostly of his NYU film school students, and 2014's Da Sweet Blood of Jesus was funded through Kickstarter. Lee resurrected an old, unproduced script from writer-director Kevin Wilmott based on the Ancient Greece play Lysistrata, with the idea to transfer the story to Chicago, currently dealing with an alarming spike in homicides and gang-related violence.
Lee and Wilmott made the decision to write most of the script's dialogue in verse and retain various Greek character names in tribute to its source. After arriving in Chicago to do local research, they joined forces with Catholic priest and social activist Father Michael Pfleger, a white clergyman stationed in a black neighborhood who introduced the pair to many families of murder victims. The script was completed with up-to-date observations about Chicago as well as gun violence and systematic racism across the country.
The production courted controversy before shooting was even completed; Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel of other officials objected to the film's title, despite its usage already being common among South Side residents. Threats were made to withhold tax credits normally given to productions made in the city.
Starring in the film are Teyonah Parris (Dear White People, "Dawn" on TV's Mad Men) and rapper Nick Cannon, as well as former collaborators Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett, Wesley Snipes, and actors John Cusack, Dave Chappelle, Harry Lennix (The Matrix films), and D.B. Sweeney. Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls), whose mother, brother, and nephew were all shot and killed in Chicago in 2008, joined the cast and was an outspoken supporter.
Various returning collaborators were behind the camera, including costume designer Ruth E. Carter (working with Lee since his 1988 sophomore effort School Daze), score composer Terence Blanchard (Malcolm X, 25th Hour), and cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Requiem For A Dream, Straight Outta Compton).
Chi-raq made history by being the first feature film distributed by online retailer Amazon. It received a limited theatrical release before appearing on Amazon's VOD service. It received mostly positive reviews, with many critics calling it Lee's strongest work in many years. Some critics (and Chicago residents) took issue with Lee turning a serious issue into a musical satire.
Running time is approx. 2 hours.
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