Spike Lee receives BFI scholarship

Spike Lee is awarded a BFI Award, the highest award given by Britain’s leading film organisation.

The award will be presented to filmmaker Lee at an event at the BFI Southbank, hosted by BFI Chairman Tim Richards and BFI President Ben Roberts, which will feature an on-stage Q&A with Spike Lee, accompanied by a screening of Summer of Samon February 13, 2023.

While in the UK, Lee will visit teams at the BFI National Archives who contacted the director about a new 35mm copy of Malcolm X (1992), which will screen at the BFI’s first film-on-film festival, which takes place at the BFI Southbank in June. He also attends a master class with young filmmakers.

Born in Atlanta in 1957, Lee grew up in Brooklyn, New York and earned his MFA in Film Production from NYU/Tisch. After graduating, he founded 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, based in Brooklyn.

His award-winning films include the Cannes titles She must have itOscar nominated do the right thing, tropical feveraforementioned Malcolm X and Summer of Samand Oscar winners BlackKkKlansman.

Lee has also directed television (Netflix series She must have it) and documentaries, including Oscar nominees 4 little girls and Emmy winner When the dykes broke: a requiem in four acts (2006) and If God wills and Da Creek don’t rise (2010), for both HBO and Michael Jackson docs bad 25 and out The wall.

Lee replied today: “I am blessed to live up to my ancestors’ credo of ‘ACTIONS, NOT WORDS’. I thank the BFI for helping me carry on my family legacy from generation to generation. peace and love. YA-DIG? SHO NUFF.”

BFI Chairman Tim Richards said: “I am honored and delighted to award Spike Lee the prestigious BFI Fellowship. Lee has such a distinctive voice as a writer who is not afraid to challenge notions of race, gender and class throughout his career with his unique film style. A true Renaissance man and pioneer, he excelled in so many art forms, original, fresh and as relevant to contemporary audiences as to those who have enjoyed his work for over thirty years. I am delighted to celebrate his immense talent and individuality with a BFI award.”

BFI beneficiaries include Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker, Satyajit Ray, Tilda Swinton, David Lean, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Steve McQueen, Akira Kurosawa, Nicholas Roeg, Orson Welles, Ridley Scott, Ousmane Sembène, Bernardo Bertolucci and Souleymane Cissé.