Hot peas and butter! Come and get your festival tickets!
Renowned Academy Award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee is cooking up a brand-new festival for admirers of film, music, and poetry. Playback: The Brooklyn Watch Party, a two-day celebration of Brooklyn’s creative culture, is set for Nov. 6–7, 2026, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).
Lee is launching the festival alongside filmmaker Nicholas Ma and Clara Wu Tsai, co-owner of the New York Liberty and Brooklyn Nets. The inaugural weekend will blend film screenings, live music, poetry, food, and community programming.
Friday, November 6 will feature programming at BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House. Meanwhile, Saturday, November 7, will bring guest-curated experiences, pop-ups, and a free community block party.
The weekend will close with a special screening of Crooklyn, featuring appearances by Lee, Alfre Woodard, and other guests.
The choice of Brooklyn is fitting for Lee, who moved to the Fort Greene neighborhood at age four and spent his formative years in the borough. The borough has remained woven throughout his work, from Crooklyn and Do the Right Thing to the brownstones, stoops, streets, and neighborhood culture that frequently give his films their distinct texture.
His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, was also famously based in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
While the festival’s full lineup has yet to be announced, its combination of film, music, food, and community makes for an intriguing first edition. Considering Lee’s decades-long relationship with Brooklyn, Playback has the potential to be more than a film festival.
It could become a celebration of the culture that has influenced one of the borough’s most recognizable filmmakers.
Tickets are expected to go on sale in September via the festival’s website.
