Spike Lee talks heading Red Sea’s jury and Cannes hopes for ‘Highest 2 Lowest’

Spike Lee will be seeking originality and great stories at this year’s Red Sea International Film Festival, where he will preside over the features competition jury.

The Oscar-winning US filmmaker will oversee a 16-strong selection of features by filmmakers from the Arab region, Asia and Africa. “I’m looking for originality, the way a film is put together,” Lee told Screen. “Do I see and hear and feel the voice of the director? Also, what is the story and how is it being told? That’s what I’m looking for.”

Set to arrive in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia today, ahead of opening night, Lee added: “The thing I like about this situation [heading the jury] is that it’s not like I know these filmmakers and what their work is like. I’m coming totally open, with no bias. It’s rare to get the opportunity to be so totally open and fresh.”

The writer and director of BlacKkKlansman and Do The Right Thing also revealed his approach to leading a festival jury, mirroring his work as jury president at Cannes Film Festival in 2021. “From the jump, I’ll tell them [my fellow jurors] it’s a democracy so they should express themselves about how they feel about the films and to respect the work of the filmmakers. I had the same approach when I was president of the jury in Cannes.”

Lee was last at Red Sea in 2022 when he screened his 1992 film Malcolm X in the region for the first time, and discussed how they filmed in Mecca and Cairo. Given the opportunity to film in Saudi in the future, the filmmaker said: “I’m very much open to it.”

Lee’s next film is Highest 2 Lowest, an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller, which stars Denzel Washington. Produced by A24 with Apple Original Films, it is set for a release in early summer 2025.

When told by Screen that Cannes general delegate Thierry Frémaux will be at Red Sea this week, Lee said: “I’ve got to take him to lunch! But seriously, he is a good friend of mine and I’ve been going to Cannes since my first film She’s Gotta Have It, which won the Prix de la Jeunesse award in 1986.

“I have nothing but fond memories of Cannes and if that’s the course, that we get to bring the new film to Cannes, it will be another gift.”