Once Upon a Time in Harlem

William Greaves (1926–2014) was born at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, the triumphant flowering of African American art, culture, and politics in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1972, he invited as many surviving representatives as he could to Duke Ellington’s home. Greaves considered the footage he shot there to be the most important of his career. He continued working on it and conducted additional interviews, but the film remained unfinished.

Until now. His son David, who was one of the camera operators at the time, has finally completed the film as co-director alongside his father, allowing William Greaves to deliver a final posthumous masterpiece.

As he did so often before, William Greaves used his invitation to create a dramatically, historically, and politically charged situation, which he then captured in cinéma vérité style. The stylish icons of the Harlem Renaissance—including Leigh Wipper, Louise Patterson, and Richard Bruce Nugent—remain full of passion. They exchange ideas, laugh freely, and wistfully reminisce. Someone observes with a sigh that the younger generation does not know enough about the Harlem Renaissance. Half a century later, perhaps this film will change that.