Veteran filmmaker Spike Lee will be in Montreal on September 24, when he will receive a special award from the Montreal International Black Film Festival.
Organizers wrote that they are offering Lee the prize, "in recognition of his body of work which revolutionized the role of black talent in Hollywood, tearing away decades of stereotypes and marginalized portrayals to establish a new arena for African-American voices to be heard."
The prize coincides with the 25th anniversary of Lee’s game-changing Do the Right Thing, which created a sensation upon its release and received several Oscar nominations.
Lee has directed and produced over 50 films since his first film She’s Gotta Have It, a $175,000 film released four years after he finished film school at NYU. The low budget romance took in $7M in the United States after being released in 1983.
His most recent film Da Sweet Blood of Jesus will also be premiered at the festival.
Lee turned to Kickstarter where over 6,400 donors helped him raise over $1.4M, well above the $1,250,000 he needed to create the film.
