CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 9/7/2022

Hot Book Alert! 'Spike Lee: Director’s Inspiration' is new this week

Featured spreads are from Spike Lee: Director’s Inspiration, the new release from DelMonico Books and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, where the critically-acclaimed exhibition is on view through September 25, 2022. Collecting objects, photographs, posters and artworks from Lee's personal collection, alongside texts by an amazing list of other artists and inspirational figures—including Isaac Julien, Rosie Perez, Roger Guenveur Smith and Martine Syms, to name a few—the book also includes an illuminating interview with Judas and the Black Messiah director Shaka King, who notes how many Black artists and filmmakers stand on Lee's shoulders. Lee's response: "The same way I stand on those individual shoulders that went before me. And Shaka, I’m going to speak to you right now. I’m talking right to you, brother. You and I, and many of us, understand that if we tap into the power, and the spirit, and the love, and the vision of our ancestors—I’m not trying to be flippant or be a comedian, this is some serious talk. This has really helped me. I’m aware that my ancestors—your ancestors—went through holy hell when that first slave ship docked in 1619 in Jamestown, Virginia. They went through stuff we can only imagine. For me, anytime I’ve been down in my spirit, I turn that shit around and think about what my ancestors went through. When I do that, it’s like—and I’m speaking to myself here: 'Spike, you down about this? This is some bullshit.' I’m like, 'Man, pick your head up, get your shoulders straight, and keep it moving.' I see it work. I saw that with this film. Your great film that’s being recognized. And I want to make this broad and not just African American. No matter who you are. We all came from somewhere. You didn’t just show up and the world began. If we do the homework, and we’re open to understanding that we’re here because of other people, our ancestors, then we have our powers. Again, I’m not saying that’s going to be easy, but you have the armor to get through anything." Book photos by IN-FO.CO.