On this day in 1986, Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” premiered in theaters

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Independent filmmaker Spike Lee, right, is shown with actress Tracy Camilla Johns at a release party for his film, "She's Gotta Have It," Aug. 1986 in New York. Lee says he wants to make honest films about black people and doesn't believe there are any films by and for blacks. (AP Photo/Mario Suriani)
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Director Spike Lee’s first feature-length film, “She’s Gotta Have It,” premiered in theaters on Aug. 8, 1986.

“She’s Gotta Have It” is a comedy about Nola Darling, a free-spirited African-American woman in Brooklyn, New York, and her three suitors. Lee makes an appearance in the film as one of those suitors, a bike messenger named Mars Blackmon.

Some of Lee’s other notable works include “Do the Right Thing” and “School Daze,” his second and third feature-length films.

FILE – This Oct. 5, 2019 file photo shows Spike Lee at the grand opening of Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. Lee’s 1986 film “She’s Gotta Have It,” is among 25 films to be added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Invision/AP, File)

“Do the Right Thing” earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule, has produced dozens of films — several of them dubbed “Spike Lee joints” — since the ’80s.

“She’s Gotta Have It” was also a Netflix series from 2017 to 2019.


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