Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads

Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads
Title screen
Directed by	Spike Lee
Written by	Spike Lee
Produced by	Spike Lee Zimmie Shelton
Starring	Monty Ross
Cinematography	Ernest R. Dickerson
Edited by	Spike Lee
Music by	Bill Lee
Production companies	40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, New York University (NYU)
Distributed by	First Run Features
Release date	March 27, 1983 (1983-03-27)(New York New Directors/New Films Festival)
Running time	60 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads is a 1983 student film by American filmmaker Spike Lee. ^[1] Lee submitted the film as his master's degree thesis at the Tisch School of the Arts. ^[2]

Production

Lee's classmates Ang Lee and Ernest R. Dickerson worked on the film as assistant director and cinematographer, respectively. The film was the first student film to be showcased in Lincoln Center's New Directors New Films Festival. Lee's father, Bill Lee, composed the score. ^[3] The film won a Student Academy Award. ^[4]

Plot

The film is set in a Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn barbershop where customers come to hang out, discuss various issues, and get a haircut. The manager, Zack, took over after Joe was killed by a gangster who used the shop as a front for a numbers racket. Zack wants to keep the shop legitimate but the gangster wants to continue the deal he had with Joe. ^[5]

See also

• American Taboo – another student film that also won the Student Academy Award the same year as Spike's film
• 1983 in film

References

1. WorldCat.org
2. "Oeuvre: Spike Lee: Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads". Spectrum Culture. 2012-03-15. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
3. Library of Congress
4. STUDENT ACADEMY AWARD 40TH ANNIVERSARY FILM posted by Gary Tellalian on Vimeo
5. Revisited: Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads - CutPrintFilm

External links

• Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads at IMDb