Months have passed since the premiere of his latest work, Highest 2 Lowest, at this yearโs Cannes Film Festival, but US filmmaker Spike Lee is still revelling in the memories of the glitzy May 19 event.
โIโve had a love relationship with the Cannes Film Festival since 1986 โ theyโve loved all my films that have been there,โ says Lee, 68, speaking on a recent video call from his residence at Oak Bluffs in Marthaโs Vineyard, in the US state of Massachusetts.
โMay 19, 2025, was a continuation of that. I donโt think it was a mistake that the world premiere of Do the Right Thing was May 19, 1989. I donโt think it was a mistake that May 19, 2025, was Malcolm Xโs 100th birthday.
โFor me, some things you just cannot explain. They just happen. And to add to that, this is the first time [actor] Denzel [Washington] has ever been to Cannes with a film.โ
He pauses: โIt was ancestral spirits, whatever you want to call it,โ he says, adding with a mischievous cackle, โBut not voodoo!โ
A reimagining of Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawaโs 1963 thriller High and Low, Highest 2 Lowest stars Washington as a wealthy music mogul whose livelihood is threatened by a life-or-death ransom demand.