*Spike Lee was honored by his peers Thursday when he became the 34th recipient of the American Cinematheque Award.
Hosted by Jodi Foster via Zoom due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Lee’s colleagues and fellow artists assembled to swap personal stories about working with the Oscar-winning director, Deadline reports.
Foster conducted an interview with Lee, during which he discussed the challenges of specific movies and explained how he intends to beat father time.
“You have to work on your craft no matter what it is — you have to work, you have to work, you have to work,” Lee told her. “If you love what you are doing you can delay Father Time, so I have some more joints to make. ..At the very beginning I wanted to build a body of work because I noticed the artists I admired kept building their body of work. It wasn’t just a one-and-done thing. Over the years they kept working on their craft. For me that was the model.”
Check out highlights via the clip above.
READ MORE: Official Trailer Drops for Spike Lee’s 1960s Drama ‘Son of the South’ [WATCH]
Excited to announce that Spike Lee will receive the 34th American Cinematheque Award on 1/14/21. As a cultural arts organization that celebrates the importance of film in our society, Spike Lee is the perfect choice for the Cinematheque’s annual award. https://t.co/ybZYbrPTIn pic.twitter.com/NkReNvaqol
— American Cinematheque (@am_cinematheque) October 22, 2020
Lee also touched on the films that failed audiences failed to connect with.
“A lot of my films did not connect with the audience right away. Exhibit A: Bamboozled. Exhibit B: 25th Hour,” he said. “But that is the great thing about DVD, Blu-rays. Sooner or later people will catch up to it. Sometimes for whatever reason it just didn’t click upon release, but I always believe the good stuff will find an audience sooner or later.”
Later in the event, the cast of Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” presented the award to the Hollywood icon.
“There are filmmakers who create entertainment for the world. and there are those who create commentaries for our world. Personally I don’t know another person that so naturally and so honestly creates both time and time again,” said actor Jonathan Majors ahead of the presentation “Hopefully all artistic artists grow in their craft, Spike, but you started with compassion and guts and truth. Vision ferocious before anyone knew who you were, and passion before anyone knew that you are. I know that from courtside at the Knicks game and hanging out with you, and having a beer with you in Thailand, you don’t speak through your art, you speak through your humanity.”
Watch the moment via the Twitter clip below.
Jonathan Majors and “Da 5 Bloods” costars presented award: “There are filmmakers that create entertainment for the world and there are those that create commentaries to our world. Personally, I don’t know another person that so naturally and so honestly creates both.” pic.twitter.com/NOGeyx3Pt3
— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) January 15, 2021
Lee concluded by showing love to “anyone who has worked in front of and behind the camera with me in my four decades,” he said. “You know I love you and thank you for your support over the years, and let’s keep it going.”
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