a/k/a The Sweet Blood of Jesus
Release Date: 2/13/15 Theatrical Release, VOD; 6/22/14 (American Black Film Festival ABFF)
Genre: Romance/Comedy/Horror
Rating: Not Available
Running Time: 123 mins.
Studio: 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, Gravitas Ventures
Director: Spike Lee
Cast: Stephen Tyrone Williams (Dr. Hess Greene), Zaraah Abrahams (Ganja Hightower), Rami Malek (Seneschal Higginbottom), Elvis Nolasco (Lafayette Hightower), Thomas Jefferson Byrd (Bishop Zee), Joie Lee (Nurse Colquitt), Felicia Snoop Pearson (Lucky Mays), Jeni Perillo (Sahara Paysinger).
Update: Shadow & Act reported on 11/19/14, the synopsis reads: “A Spike Lee Joint, DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS is a new kind of love story, one that centers on an addiction to blood that once doomed a long forgotten ancient African tribe. When Dr. Hess Green (Stephen Tyrone Williams) is introduced to a mysteriously cursed artifact by an art curator, Lafayette Hightower (Elvis Nolasco), he is uncontrollably drawn into a newfound thirst for blood that overwhelms his soul. He however is not a vampire. Lafayette quickly succumbs to the ravenous nature of the infliction but leaves Hess a transformed man. Soon Lafayette’s wife, Ganja Hightower (Zaraah Abrahams), comes looking for her husband and becomes involved in a dangerous romance with Hess that questions the very nature of love, addiction, sex, and status in our seemingly sophisticated society. A reinterpretation of Bill Gunn’s horror cult film “Ganja & Hess”, which played as a Critics’ Choice at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, Spike Lee’s stylized thriller features an Original Score by Bruce Hornsby.”
The movie got ripped really hard by critics when it debuted this summer at the annual American Black Film Festival. That said, after ABFF there was some question whether the film would find distribution at all. Gravitas will release the film theatrically and on video on demand, starting on February 13, 2015. Source(s): Shadow and Act. Poster: IMDB.
Trailer:
Black Cinema Connection 