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Next month, one of cinema’s great masters of action will grace the screen at the Clinton Street Theater: Bruce Lee, who will be the focus of an upcoming film festival running from Aug. 15 to 30.
“Bruce Lee’s influence on modern culture cannot be overstated,” said Clinton Street Theater co-owner Aaron Colter in a press release. “From countless homages in video games, comic books, and films like Kill Bill, there’s really no one else as iconic as Bruce Lee. And it’s not just his movies. He was a poet and a teacher. His hybrid martial arts philosophy paved the way for modern MMA.”
Rather than screening in order of release date, the films will be presented in a curated order, beginning with Fist of Fury and ending with Game of Death, which was released posthumously with incomplete original and archival footage (Lee died of a cerebral edema on July 20, 1973, in Hong Kong at age 32).
Lee remains a tangible presence in popular culture across the world. Born in San Francisco on Nov. 27, 1940, he went on to star in classics like 1973′s Enter the Dragon (1973), which screens at the Clinton on Aug. 20. Even assaults on his credibility by Quentin Tarantino (who created an offensive caricature of Lee for Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood and criticized him on Joe Rogan’s podcast) have failed to diminish his legacy. (Also, if you’ve pissed off Tarantino, you know you’re doing something right.)
“[Bruce Lee] continues to be an inspiration all over the world,” Colter said. “His philosophy of ‘be water’ was adopted by protesters in Hong Kong during the 2019 anti-extradition movement. There’s even a statue of him in Mostar, Bosnia, that was unveiled in 2005 as a symbol of peace. Everyone still knows Bruce Lee today, not because he was a celebrity, but because he embodies strength and perseverance.”
The full schedule for the festival is available here. Moviegoers can purchase either individual tickets or festival passes.