Spike Lee talks about his love for Washington and Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, whose 1963 film High and Low he reimagined

Months have passed since the premiere of his latest work, Highest 2 Lowest, at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, but US filmmaker Spike Lee is still revelling in the memories of the glitzy May 19 event.

“I’ve had a love relationship with the Cannes Film Festival since 1986 – they’ve loved all my films that have been there,” says Lee, 68, speaking on a recent video call from his residence at Oak Bluffs in Martha’s Vineyard, in the US state of Massachusetts.

“May 19, 2025, was a continuation of that. I don’t think it was a mistake that the world premiere of Do the Right Thing was May 19, 1989. I don’t think it was a mistake that May 19, 2025, was Malcolm X’s 100th birthday.

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