Highest 2 Lowest

The Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts and the International Film Series are proud to host a special pre-streaming screening of Spike Lee's newest joint, HIGHEST 2 LOWEST. This event will include a post-film Q&A with screenwriter Alan Fox and Producer Jason Berman, moderated by Lionsgate President of Worldwide Television & Digital Distribution (and CU Alum) Jim Packer!

Film Synopsis
When a titan music mogul (Denzel Washington), widely known as having the “best ears in the business”, is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma. Brothers Denzel Washington and Spike Lee reunite for the 5th in their long working relationship for a reinterpretation of the great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s crime thriller High and Low, now played out on the mean streets of modern day New York City.

Alan Fox's bio
Born and raised in Oak Ridge, North Carolina, Alan Fox was an all-state basketball player, set to play in college (UNC-Greensboro), before an injury led him into a life as a fashion model (Abercrombie Fitch, Adidas, Men’s Health), turned recording artist (now defunct Cartel Records), turned actor (Taylor Swift’s music video Fifteen, The English Teacher, and his one person show Expectations which premiered at the Cherry Lane Theater), turned graduate of Hunter College (Magna Cum Laude, 2016), turned playwright (Space Space, directed by Tony Award winning director Jack O’Brien, 2019), turned screenwriter (Highest 2 Lowest, directed by Spike Lee, and starring Denzel Washington, A$AP Rocky and Jeffrey Wright, which premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and will be released by A24 and Apple this Summer).

Jason Berman's bio

Jason Michael Berman is the Founder and President of A/Vantage Pictures, a production company with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Boulder. Launched in 2025 following Berman’s decade-long tenure as President of Mandalay Pictures, A/Vantage was built to develop and produce elevated, commercially driven films rooted in culturally resonant storytelling and bold, director-led vision.

Currently, Berman is gearing up for the theatrical release of A/Vantage’s debut feature Highest 2 Lowest, a contemporary reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, A$AP Rocky, and Ilfenesh Hadera. The film had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and will be released theatrically by A24, followed by a global streaming release on Apple TV+. The company is also in post production on Rock Springs, a psychological thriller written and directed by Vera Miao, starring Benedict Wong, Kelly Marie Tran, and Jimmy O. Yang.

Prior to founding A/Vantage, Berman produced a wide range of acclaimed and high-profile films, including Air (Amazon Studios), directed by Ben Affleck and starring Matt Damon, Viola Davis, and Jason Bateman; Surrounded (MGM), starring Letitia Wright; and Nine Days (Sony Pictures Classics). He also produced The Birth of a Nation (Fox Searchlight), which won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, alongside additional credits such as Burning Sands (Netflix), Uncorked (Netflix), IO (Netflix), Juanita (Netflix), and Little Evil (Netflix).

Recognized in Variety’s Dealmakers Impact Report and "Top Ten Producers to Watch," Berman is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Producers United and the Producers Guild of America. He also played a founding role in the Sundance Institute Catalyst program, which has raised over $60 million for independent filmmakers. Since 2013, he has served as an adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he earned his degree.

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Berman began his career at the William Morris Agency and MGM Studios, and has collaborated closely with Oscar-nominated writer-director Gary Ross.