Spike Lee’s classic is back on the big screen, as blisteringly relevant as it was when it was first released in 1989. Do the Right Thing is a sweltering day in the life of a small neighbourhood in Brooklyn as tensions heat up to match the weather. The film follows the whole spectrum of life in all its exuberance and the underlying fragility of the neighbourhood’s relationships.

A true ensemble movie, the films boasts an all-star cast, including Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Nunn, Giancarlo Esposito, Martin Lawrence, Rosie Perez and Spike Lee himself. The film was controversially snubbed at the Oscars, where it had received two nominations. Roger Ebert’s declaration in 1989 that Do the Right Thing ‘comes closer to reflecting the current state of race relations in America than any other movie of our time,’ worryingly still rings true.

_{Do the Right Thing is part of the BFI’s BLACK STAR season, taking place UK-wide, supported by the Independent Cinema Office awarding funds from the National Lottery}