“Spike Lee at his most spontaneous and sincere.”
— Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
“Ambitious and uncompromising.”
The Village Voice
“This coming-of-age portrait provides one more instance of Lee as one of the most intuitive and fluent visual storytellers working in the medium today.”
The Washington Post
“RED HOOK SUMMER has raw vitality”
The New York Times
ABOUT THE FILM
LONG SYNOPSIS
The latest in Spike Lee’s Chronicles of Brooklyn series (which also include She’s Gotta Have It, Do The Right Thing, Crooklyn, Clockers, and He Got Game), RED HOOK SUMMER tells the story of Flik Royale, a sullen young boy from middle-class Atlanta who has come to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse, 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, 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.
Writers Spike Lee, James McBride
Producer Spike Lee
Co-Producer James McBride
Editor Hye Mee Na
Director of Photography Kerwin Devonish
Production Designer Sarah Frank
Music Bruce Hornsby
Songs by Judith Hill
ALL NEGRO SPIRITUALS ARRANGED BY Dr. Uzee Brown
ALL ORIGINAL HAMMOND B-3 ORGAN MUSIC WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY Jonathan Batiste
Cast Clarke Peters, Jules Brown, Toni Lysaith, Nate Parker, James Ransone, Thomas Jefferson Byrd
FESTIVALS
2012: Sundance
THEATRICAL RELEASE
US: Variance/40 Acres and a Mule (August 2012)
FESTIVAL TERRITORIES
The World, except North America
EXHIBITION FORMATS
HDCAM, Digibeta, BluRay, DVD
PRESS KIT
Download Press Kit
AVAILABLE PRESS IMAGES (click to preview)
