Spike Lee to Receive Career Achievement Award From Palm Springs International Film Festival

Spike Lee will be honored with a career achievement award from the Palm Springs International Film Festival, organizers announced on Wednesday.

Lee, who has been making films for more than three decades, has directed classics such as “Do The Right Thing,” “She’s Gotta Have It” and “Malcolm X.” His most recent film, “BlacKkKlansman,” has been praised by critics.

“Spike Lee has been an outstanding warrior for equal rights while creating an iconic body of film and television work over his 30-year career,” festival chairman Harold Matzner said in a statement. “In ‘BlacKkKlansman,’ Lee directs one of his best and most provocative films about an African-American detective and a white detective who are determined to infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado Springs. It is our great honor to present the Career Achievement Award to Spike Lee.”

Also Read: 'BlacKkKlansman' Film Review: Spike Lee Looks Back - and Forward - in Anger

“BlacKkKlansman” is the true story of Ron Stallworth, played by John David Washington. Stallworth was the first African-American detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department, he also set out to infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan.

In the film, the young detective teams up with a more seasoned colleague, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), to take down the extremist group as it aims to sanitize its violent rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream. The Focus Features film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Lee joins previously announced honorees Glenn Close, Bradley Cooper, Alfonso Cuarón, Rami Malek, Melissa McCarthy and the “Green Book.” Past recipients of the Career Achievement Award include Annette Bening, Kevin Costner, Bruce Dern, Robert Duvall, Clint Eastwood, Sally Field, Morgan Freeman, Holly Hunter, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Also Read: How 'BlacKkKlansman' Could Turn Cannes Acclaim Into Box Office Dollars

The awards gala will be held on Thursday, Jan. 3 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs Jan. 3-14.

Spike Lee’s three-decade career also includes “School Daze,” “Mo’ Better Blues,” “Jungle Fever,” “He Got Game,” and “Inside Man,” among many others. And his feature documentary work includes the double Emmy award-winning “If God Is Willing” and “Da Creek Don’t Rise,” a follow-up to his HBO documentary film “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts” and the Peabody Award-winning “A Huey P Newton Story.”

Every Black Director Nominated for an Oscar, From John Singleton to Spike Lee (Photos)

In 2019, Spike Lee became only the sixth Black director to receive an Oscar nomination in the Academy's history for his work on "BlackKklansman." But so far, no Black filmmaker has won in that category.
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John Singleton, "Boyz N the Hood" (1991) • Two years after Spike Lee was passed over for a nomination for "Do the Right Thing," John Singleton became the first African American to earn a Best Director nomination for his star-studded drama set in South Central L.A. That year, Jonathan Demme won the award for "The Silence of the Lambs."
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Lee Daniels, "Precious" (2009) • Eighteen years passed before a second African American filmmaker was recognized: Lee Daniels, for his gritty portrait of a young woman seeking to overcome a childhood of poverty and abuse. In another Oscar first, Kathryn Bigelow became the first female director to win the Oscar, for "The Hurt Locker."
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Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave" (2013) • British director Steve McQueen gritty drama about American slavery picked up nine nominations, including one for his directing. While the film won Best Picture (and McQueen earned a statuette as a producer), he lost the directing prize to "Gravity" filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón.
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Barry Jenkins, "Moonlight" (2016) • Jenkins' underdog indie pulled off a major upset, beating front-runner "La La Land" for Best Picture. But Damien Chazelle claimed the directing prize for the modern-day musical. (Jenkins did take home the statuette for Best Adapted Screenplay.)
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Jordan Peele, "Get Out" (2017) • Peele became the latest actor-turned-filmmaker to earn a Best Director nod, for his feature filmmaking debut. Peele won an Oscar for his original screenplay but Guillermo del Toro won Best Director for "The Shape of Water."
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Spike Lee, "BlackKklansman" (2018) • Despite wide acclaim for such films as 1989's "Do the Right Thing" and 1992's "Malcolm X," the pioneering filmmaker earned his first nomination decades into his career for this fact-based tale of a Black undercover cop who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. Lee shared the Adapted Screenplay Oscar for the film, but Alfonso Cuarón took home Best Director for "Roma."
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Will Regina King join the club this year for her work on ”One Night in Miami“?

In 2019, Spike Lee became only the sixth Black director to receive an Oscar nomination in the Academy's history for his work on "BlackKklansman." But so far, no Black filmmaker has won in that category.

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Every Black Director Nominated for an Oscar, From John Singleton to Spike Lee (Photos)

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