In an exclusive chat with Variety, Cannes Film Festival jury president Spike Lee has shared his judgement on the festival organizers’ decision to postpone the biggest festival in film to a later date.
Lee, who is currently stationed at home with his family in Brooklyn disclosed, “I agree 100% with Thierry and the Cannes Film Festival. The world has changed and it’s changing every day. People are dying and France’s president has said, several times — I’m paraphrasing — ‘We are at war.’ We are in a war-like time. The stuff that we love has to take a backseat: movies, TV, sports, the NBA is a global sport, baseball. So many things have been postponed, and I agree with this move.”
Cannes has not been totally ruled out from happening this year, compared to other events. In view of this, Lee opined an honest answer when asked if his acceptance as Jury president will still hold if a new date is given, “Let’s not forget this is the world’s biggest film festival, the world’s biggest stage for cinema and I’ll be the first black president of the jury. So, look, I can’t pretend [to know] what’s going to happen tomorrow. Everybody has to pray, get on bended knee, pray, we get out of this, find a vaccine, get back on our feet — physically, emotionally and financially worldwide. This is no joke. It’s not some movie. People are dying.”
Speaking about the comment passed by the U.S. President Donald Trump, calling COVID-19 a Chinese virus, the ‘Malcolm X’ director cautioned the president saying, “I would like to say this: I wish he would stop saying ‘the Chinese virus. The president of the United States needs to stop calling this the Chinese virus. Please stop doing that. He’s putting Asian Americans in this country in danger. Stop saying Chinese virus. There’s nobody around him to say, ‘You can’t say this anymore’? That isn’t helping at all. Hopefully his base will understand. You just can’t say that.”
Just like other families from around the world, Lee is home-based with his family offering each other a shoulder of support and love during these trying moments.
“We’re doing whatever everybody else is trying to do – come together, love each other and just try to ride it out. People are being laid off. People are being fired. People don’t know where their next check is going to come from, how they are going to see their children. When the schools close, who is going to take care of their children? This is crazy,” said Lee.
Over the years at Cannes, Lee has premiered quite a number of his films including, ‘“She’s Gotta Have It’, ‘Do the Right Thing’ and ‘BlacKkKlansman’, which scored him his first Academy Award win for best adapted screenplay in 2019. He becomes the first black man to preside over the film festival since its inception 73 years ago.
