WHO’S IN IT?
Nick Cannon (Drumline), Wesley Snipes (Demolition Man), Teyonah Parris (Dear White People), Anya Engel-Adams (film debut), Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls), Angela Bassett (What’s Love Got To Do With It), John Cusack (Con Air), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction), Michelle Mitchenor (Last to Love), D. B. Sweeney (Spawn), Harry Lennix (Man of Steel), La La Anthony (Think Like A Man), Felicia Pearson (The Wire), Dave Chappelle (The Nutty Professor), Steve Harris (Takers), David Patrick Kelly (John Wick), Anthony Chisholm (Premium Rush), Isiah Whitlock Jr. (Pete’s Dragon)
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Spike Lee (Do The Right Thing), director, writer, producer; Kevin Willmott (The Battle For Bunker Hill), writer; Terence Blanchard (Inside Man), composer; Matthew Libatique (Black Swan), cinematographer; Ryan Denmark (Last Looks) and Hye Mee Na (Red Hook Summer), editors
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
The beautiful Lysistrata (Parris) is disturbed by the rising amount of gang violence on the streets of Chicago, particularly between the Spartans gang, led by her aspiring rapper lover Demetrius “Chi-Raq” Dupree (Cannon), and the Trojans, led by the ruthless Cyclops (Snipes). When a young girl is accidentally killed in a drive-by shooting, she manages to persuade Spartan and Trojan women to swear off sex with their men until the violence ceases. As she draws more attention to her cause, more and more people end up participating from across the city and even the world…
IN ONE SENTENCE, WHY SHOULD YOU BE EXCITED?
Spike Lee’s urban retelling of the Ancient Greek drama Lysistrata is both ambitious and provocative, as many have come to expect from the controversial director’s work thus far.
