THR's Docs to Watch
Once Upon a Time in Harlem
A decade after his death, genre-defying filmmaker William Greaves has one last trick up his sleeve with what he considered the most important event he captured on film: a 1972 party he engineered with the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance. For four hours, this extraordinary group — many of whom had not seen each other in fifty years — reminisced, critiqued, argued, laughed, and drank while wrestling with their place in a rapidly shifting cultural landscape. Newly restored and directed by Greaves’ son David, this landmark film is an inquiry into the heart of the Harlem Renaissance. A Neon release.
A Q&A with director David Greaves immediately follows the screening.
DIRECTORS
William Greaves
David Greaves
PRODUCERS
Liani Greaves
Anne de Mare
CAST
Arna Bontemps
Ida Mae Cullen
James Van Der Zee
Richard Bruce Nugent
Aaron Douglas
Ernest Crichlow
Romare Bearden
Noble Sissle
Leigh Whipper
Richard B. Moore
Louise Thompson Patterson
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
William Greaves created an immense body of work that documented, reflected on, and celebrated the African American experience, contributing to 79 films as a producer, writer, director, cinematographer, and editor over the span of 52 years.
David Greaves is an award-winning filmmaker and journalist who worked as a cinematographer or editor on many of his father’s films, including the landmark Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 1 and as a cameraman on the 1972 shoot for Once Upon a Time in Harlem.