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A SPIKE LEE JOINT: BlacKkKlansman has received rave reviews following its screening at the 71st Cannes Film Festival. (Image: David Lee/Focus Features)

SPIKE LEE’S latest film, BlacKkKlansman, is already impressing critics at Cannes and now film fans can get in on the hype by watching the film’s first trailer.

Inspired by a true story, BlacKkKlansman follows the story of a black police detective who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s.

John David Washington, actor, producer and Denzel’s son, stars as detective Ron Stallworth.

In the 70s, Stallworth responded to an advert for new Klan members in a Colorado Springs paper.

Lee said: “Ron Stallworth thinks that it’s a goof so he calls up and, thinking it’s a joke, leaves his real name and phone number on a voicemail – and the Klan calls back. They say, ‘We want you to come down.’ Since he’s an African American, he can’t really show up for the interview. He has to get a white police officer to play him, and that’s Adam Driver.”

Adam Driver, who rose to fame in HBO sitcom Girls and plays Kylo Ren in Star Wars, plays Stallworth’s partner.

The film has gone down well with critics at Cannes. According to reports, the audience gave the film a six minute standing ovation following its screening at the prestigious film festival.

Electric 6-minute standing ???????? for Spike Lee’s #BkacKkKlansman in Palais. Powerful ending, congrats from @theweeknd @bellahadid @NaomiCampbell #Cannes2018. Cheers for Adam Driver, Topher Grace, lead JDW pic.twitter.com/K4wRleF35W

— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) May 14, 2018

Director Jordan Peele, who won the Oscar for best original screenplay for Get Out, has produced the film.

BlacKkKlansman will be released in the US on August 10 and in the UK on August 24.

Watch the trailer below:

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