American director Spike Lee earned career's fifth Academy Award nomination for his film BlacKkKlansman in Oscars 2019. The 61-year-old is nominated in Best Director category, and in fact, among front-runners to bag winner's trophy at 91st Academy Awards. In 1985, Lee began work on his first feature film, She's Gotta Have It. Lee earned first Oscar Nomination in 1989, when his film Do the Right Thing was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Meanwhile, His 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. Oscars 2019 Nominations: A Star Is Born, Roma, Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman – 10 Movies Predicted to Rule Over the Nominees!

Lee’s movie BlacKkKlansman is also nominated in Best Movie Category. It a 2018 American biographical crime comedy-drama film. The movie written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Lee is based on the 2014 memoir Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth. The film stars John David Washington as Stallworth, along with Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, and Topher Grace. Oscars 2019: Indian Producer Guneet Monga’s Documentary on Menstruation ‘Period End of Sentence’ Nominated for Academy Award.

The plot follows the first African-American detective in the city's police department during 1970s as he sets out to infiltrate and expose the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. The film is produced by Lee, Raymond Mansfield, Shaun Redick, Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, and Jordan Peele. The movie also won the Grand Prix.

Besides, Lee, Alfonso Cuaron (Roma), Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), Adam McKay (Vice) and Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War) have been nominated for Oscars 2019 in the Best Director Category. At BAFTA Awards 2019, Alfonso Cuaron was awarded as the best director for 'Roma'.  So, Lee will face tough competition from Cuaron to win the 91st Academy Awards for the Best Director.

With the nomination in the Best Director Category, Lee became the sixth black director to be nominated in this category. Other five directors are Jordan Peele, Barry Jenkins, Steve McQueen, Lee Daniels and John Singleton. Apart from five academy nominations, the director also won a Student Academy Award, and an Academy Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, two Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 13, 2019 04:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).