This 1970s-set seriocomic crime drama, inspired by an unlikely but true story, received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Directing, and earned Spike Lee an Oscar for Adapted Screenplay. John David Washington gives a star-making performance as Ron Stallworth, a real-life Colorado policeman who managed to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan, and Supporting Actor nominee Adam Driver plays his partner Philip “Flip” Zimmerman.

DIRECTOR: Spike Lee. WRITTEN BY: Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee. CAST: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace. 2018. 135 min. USA. Color. Scope. English. DCP.

All film screenings in the Director’s Inspiration: Spike Lee series are available here.  

Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.