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Events company salutes Spike Lee with 60th b-day screening

FULL HOUSE: The opening of 'Spike is 60'

20 MARCH represented an important milestone for African-American cinema, as one of its finest filmmakers, Spike Lee, turned 60 years old.

To celebrate this and to open their year-long film festival dedicated to the great director, events company We Are Parable hosted a special screening of Mo’ Better Blues, the 1990 film starring Denzel Washington and Lee himself.

This event (held on March 19 in Dalston, east London) came with a twist - the film was accompanied by a live performance from saxophonist and composer Cassie Kinoshi, who played improvised pieces of music to pivotal scenes throughout.

Anthony Andrews, Creative Lead and Co-founder of We Are Parable said:

“With this event taking place just before Spike’s 60th birthday, we wanted to create an atmosphere within the cinema that allowed the audience to be fully immersed in the story. By including Cassie’s wonderful performance throughout the screening, we were able to bring even more emotional relevance to scenes that are well known and loved.”


PROUD: From left - Anthony and Teanne Andrews, organisers of Spike is 60

Teanne Andrews, Event Production Lead and Co-founder agreed:

“We didn’t just want to provide our audience with a screening, but give them a shared and unique take on such a classic film that, for so many people, defined an era.”

As a result of playing with the boundaries of what you can do with a cinema screening, the event (funded by BFI Film Hub London and supported by Jazz Re:Freshed) went down exceedingly well with the audience.

“Awesome idea!”, “Wonderful event!”, “Can’t wait to see what you have planned in the future!” and “Such a welcoming event, lots of fun”, were just some of the comments from screening attendees.

Luckily for those who missed out on this event, We Are Parable have an eight-month schedule of events planned as part of the Spike is 60 festival, with the next, a screening of Lee’s controversial satire, Bamboozled taking place at HOME in Manchester on 29 April.


SCREEN DREAMS: The inaugural film

“What a way to open our festival,” said Anthony.

“We’re so excited to show what we’ve got planned over the next few months – we’re going to be flat out, but it’s going to be totally worth it!”

The Spike is 60 film festival is supported by BFI Film Hub London and BFI Film Hub NWC.

The Voice are the marketing partners for the Spike is 60 film festival.

For a full list of Spike is 60 screenings, click here.

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