Spike Lee is one of the most New York of filmmakers.
So it stands to reason that “Crooklyn,” Lee’s semi-autobiographical film about growing up in Brooklyn, has won the city’s first-ever One Film, One New York contest, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment announced on Wednesday.
Lee, in a statement, described the 1994 movie as the semi-autobiographical story of his family “growing up in the pre-gentrified black and Puerto Rican hood of Fort Greene in ‘Da Republic of Brooklyn’ during the early ’70s.” The movie was written by Lee and his siblings Joie and Cinqué.
The contest invited New Yorkers to cast their votes throughout August for one of five films to be shown simultaneously throughout the city on Sept. 13: “Crooklyn,” “On the Town” (1949), “New York, New York” (1977), “Desperately Seeking Susan” (1985) or “The Wedding Banquet” (1993).
As the winner, “Crooklyn” will be shown for free at more than a dozen movie theaters and parks, including Fort Greene Park, BAM Rose Cinemas, the Museum of the Moving Image, Harlem’s St. Nicholas Park and Crotona Park.
“More than anything, ‘Crooklyn’ is a love letter to our long gone mother — Jacquelyn Shelton Lee,” Lee added. “‘Crooklyn’ was the way we grieved and at the same time celebrated her brief but bold life.”
