Spike Lee

Controversial filmmaker Spike Lee (born 1957) is known for powerful films such as She's Gotta Have It (1986), School Daze (1988), Do The Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Malcolm X (1992), and many others. In 2016, Lee was awarded an honorary Oscar, and his 2018 film BlacKkKlansman earned him his first regular Academy Award for best adapted screenplay. Lee made history in 2020 when he was named the first African American to preside as jury president of the Cannes Film Festival. That same year saw the debut of his critically acclaimed Vietnam War-inspired film Da 5 Bloods.

"Fight the power," the theme song to his 1989 film Do the Right Thing, could easily be Spike Lee's personal motto. From his earliest days as...