Watch Anytime • Virtual Screening Room: SCHOOL DAZE (1988)

SCHOOL DAZE (1988)
Available to your home theater through the Olympia Film Society
Streaming tickets available on November 12, 2021
Innovative filmmaker, Spike Lee (She’s Gotta Have It), brings to the screen a music-filled, offbeat contemporary comedy that takes an unforgettable look at black college life. Amidst gala coronations, football, fraternities, parades and parties, the stars of the film-Laurence Fishburne (“Dap” Dunlap), an intense student who encourages his buddies (“DaFellas”) to fight for his beliefs; Giancarlo Esposito (Julian “Big Brother Almighty” Eaves), out to strengthen the Greek system with his Gamma PhiGamma fraternity brothers; Spike Lee (“Half-Pint”), driven to become a “Gamma man”; and Tisha Campbell (Jane Toussaint), leader of the sorority, “Gamma Rays,” find themselves caught up in romance and relationships/rituals and rivalries during one outrageous homecoming weekend. With dynamic music, including EU’s hit “Da Butt”, and dance numbers choreographed by Otis Sallid (Fame), Lee successfully challenges viewpoints about self-identity and self-esteem in this original, contemporary musical comedy.
Dir: Spike Lee / 1988 / US / 114 min

“Spike Lee’s 1988 sophomore feature took a critical look at Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), revealing their beauty and complexity in a decade where black faces were an afterthought in media.” — Jourdain Searles, Thrillist

“There was never a moment when it didn’t absorb me.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times