» Spike Lee’s New Joint! “Red Hook Summer” Trailer Released (VIDEO) / Lisa Ford Blog

Spike Lee’s New Joint! “Red Hook Summer” Trailer Released (VIDEO) Friday 29 June, 2012

Spike Lee’s new film is about a young man’s who moves from to the notorious Red Hook projects to be with his preacher grandfather for the summer. Earlier this year, according to the Huffington post, Lee surprised Hollywood by opting to forgo a studio distribution by taking his chances at the Sundance Film Festival. This is something that only new artsy directors do, not someone with Lee’s experience and connections. After a few months in limbo, “Red Hook Summer” finally received a distributor with Variance Films for its theatrical release beginning August 10th in New York. Upon the news, Lee said in a statement, “From my very first joint back in 1986, She’s Gotta Have It, I have been an independent filmmaker, and even today I still am. I’m elated to join forces with Variance Films for the independent distribution of my new joint Red Hook Summer.” (huffpost) It’s good to see Spike Lee sticking to his roots by continuing to embrace independent filmmaking. Lee’s tenacity and longevity in the movie business stems in part from him always ‘remembering where he came from’.

The latest in Spike Lee’s Chronicles of Brooklyn anthology–which also includes “She’s Gotta Have It” (1986), “Do The Right Thing” (1989), “Crooklyn” (1994), “Clockers” (1995), and “He Got Game” (1998)–RED HOOK SUMMER tells the story of Flik Royale (Jules Brown), a sullen young boy from middle-class Atlanta who has come to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather,Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters), in the housing projects of Red Hook. Having never met before, things quickly get off on the wrong foot as Bishop Enoch relentlessly attempts to convert Flik into a follower of Jesus Christ. Between his grandfather’s constant preaching and the culture shock of inner-city life, Flik’s summer appears to be a total disaster–until he meets Chazz Morningstar (Toni Lysaith), a pretty girl his age, who shows Flik the brighter side of Brooklyn. Through her love and the love of his grandfather, Flik begins to realize that the world is a lot bigger, and perhaps a lot better, than he’d ever imagined.

Lee has openly discussed his pride surrounding his status as an independent filmmaker. At Sundance, he said:

“We never went to the studios with this film, I told you!” he shouted. “We said, ‘Were gonna do this motherfucking film ourselves and show it at Sundance…. This whole thing was planned out.” Of the studios, he added, “They know nothing about black people. And they gonna give me notes about what a young black boy and girl gonna do in Red Hook? Fuck no! We had to do it ourselves!”

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Source: HuffingtonPost