Harlem Renaissance Documentary Gets Cannes Premiere 50 Years After Filming

Once Upon a Time in Harlem, a documentary featuring Harlem Renaissance survivors, will premiere at Cannes Directors' Fortnight over 50 years after filming. The film centers on a 1972 cocktail party hosted by documentarian William Greaves at Duke Ellington's Harlem townhouse, where he gathered figures like Aaron Douglas, Richard Bruce Nugent, Arna Bontemps, Eubie Blake, Noble Sissle, James Van Der Zee, and Ida Mae Cullen. Greaves died in 2014; his son David and granddaughter Liani completed the film. The footage was originally shot for Greaves' 1974 documentary From These Roots but never used. After William's death, his widow Louise worked on it until 2023. David and Liani restored 60,000 feet of 16mm film. The film includes debates on terminology like 'Negro' vs. 'Afro-American' and discussions of Marcus Garvey, Langston Hughes, and anti-colonial struggle. David Greaves draws parallels to contemporary issues, including Trump's attacks on the Smithsonian and Black history erasure. Richard Brody of The New Yorker called it 'one of the greatest talking pictures.' David hopes to release the film for Greaves' centenary in October, with retrospectives in New York and at the Barbican in London.