Chi-Raq

Release Date:  12/4/15
Genre:  Drama
Rating:  Unknown
Running Time:  Unknown
Studio(s):  40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, Amazon Studios
Director:  Spike Lee
Cast:  Nick Cannon (Chi-Raq), Teyonah Parris (Lysistrata), Anya Engel-Adams (Rasheeda), Wesley Snipes (Cyclops), Angela Bassett (Miss Helen), Michelle Mitchenor (Indigo), Ebony Joy (Marcy), Felicia Pearson (Dania), Samuel L. Jackson (Dolmedes), La La Anthony (Hecuba), Val Warner (Electra Johnson), Jennifer Hudson (Irene), John Cusack (Fr. Mike Corridan), D.B. Sweeney (Mayor McCloud), Steve Harris (Ole Duke).

Story:  According to Shadow and Act ,Teyonah Parris is playing the central character, in a story set against the backdrop of Chicago’s gun violence, and said to be a modern spin on the Greek comedy “Lysistrata” – the women of Greece refused to have sex with their husbands, all in an effort to bring an end to the Peloponnesian War, via the signing of a peace treaty. In Spike’s film, the story will center on a woman’s quest to end gang warfare in Chicago, likely via similar methods as used by Lysistra.  Possibly in consideration of an Awards season run (pre-screenings for the film have apparently impressed audiences so far) as an Oscar-qualifying run, Amazon Studios has set the release date for Spike Lee’s curious Chi-Raq, for December 4, in a theatrical release deal that involves both Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate.

Trailer:

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Details:  Deadline reported on 10/29/15, that the film is inspired by the Greek comedy Lysistrata but it has a hot-button subject, and that is one of the reasons it will be released five weeks out. The film is set in Chicago’s South Side, and covers the subjects of gang violence and clashes with police, a subject that most certainly has been in the news.

In April Shadow and Act wrote that the film has caused something of a firestorm in Chicago, with many people publicity speaking out in the media against the film – especially against the title, which they say further perpetrates the image of Chicago as Dodge City in 1885; Shootouts and drive-bys with people being killed left and right every day, everywhere. Source(s): Deadline, Shadow and Act, IMDB.