‘Chi-Raq' Makes World Premiere Sunday

The invite-only premiere will be held at the Chicago Theatre

Spike Lee's controversial film “Chi-Raq” will make its world premiere Sunday night in Chicago.

The film's title, a portmanteau of "Chicago" and Iraq," has garnered significant criticism throughout the production process.

Area politicians, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, said the title denigrates residents of Englewood and surrounding areas, where the movie was filmed by comparing their neighborhoods to war-torn Iraq.

The film’s IMDB page describes the movie as a “modern day adaptation of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes, set against the backdrop of gang violence in Chicago.”

In the movie, a group of women organize to take a stand against the violence after a child is killed by a stray bullet, according to IMDB.

The film’s stars include Nick Cannon, Wesley Snipes, Jennifer Hudson, Teyonah Parris, John Cusack and Samuel L Jackson.

Several of the movie's cast members attended a service led by Father Michael Pfleger, a supporter of the film, at Saint Sabina Church on Sunday.

Lee spoke at the service and addressed skeptics head-on. “Chicago, you gotta deal with the truth,” Lee said. “These numbers don’t lie. So you can dig your head in the sand and say ‘Spike’s from New York he don’t know what he’s talking about,’ but the truth is the truth no matter where you come from,” Spike said.

The invite-only premiere will be held at the Chicago Theatre. “Chi-Raq” will be released in select theaters Dec. 4.

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