Rev. Al Sharpton & Filmmaker Spike Lee rally for march at Tuesday night’s screening of Chi-raq
Director Spike Lee donned the color of orange at the New York City screening of his latest “joint,” Chi-raq, Tuesday night.
The filmmaker, along with the Reverend Al Sharpton and celebrity cast, walked down an orange carpet that was symbolically changed from its traditional red theme to commemorate the campaign against gun violence that has increased around the nation.
“This film is going to change lives,” Lee told reporters on the orange carpet.
The film, which has an all-star cast, tackles the disquieting hike in gun violence throughout Chicago over the last decade and, in a satirical chic, draws consciousness to race, sex and violence around the nation.
Neither Lee nor his prominent ensemble of cast members made any qualms about the movie’s theme and its target audience.
“It’s telling people there that we do care,” actor Harry Lennix, a native of Chicago and former schoolteacher, told reporters. “We are listening. These people are not invisible.”
Chi-raq was filmed on location in Chicago last summer over a six-week period, which permitted cast members to see firsthand the real-life issues Lee addresses in the movie.
Following the premiere of the film, members of the cast, attendees of the premiere and activists marched from the Ziegfeld movie theater where the screening was held and made their way down Broadway. Many of the participants showed their support by wearing orange and carrying the “peace” symbol. The march ended at the far end of Times Square on Broadway between 47th and 48th.
Chi-raqopens nationwide December 4th.
