There is something inherently captivating about a time capsule, particularly when it unearths the minds that built modern Black culture. Neon has officially dropped the first teaser trailer for Once Upon a Time in Harlem, a documentary that is already being hailed as a major nonfiction film event.
Conceived and shot more than 50 years ago by the legendary, genre-defying filmmaker William Greaves, the project has finally been completed by his son, David Greaves. The result is an extraordinary, intimate portal back to the wellspring of Black creative excellence.
In August 1972, William Greaves masterminded what might be the greatest culture-defining cocktail party in New York history. He invited every surviving icon of the 1920s and 30s Harlem Renaissance he could track down to gather at Duke Ellington‘s stately townhouse.
For several hours, as the 16mm cameras rolled, these living monuments, many of whom hadn’t seen each other in half a century, drank, laughed, and profoundly debated the legacy of the artistic and political movement they ushered into the world.
The film serves as a living, breathing oral history that captures an invaluable roster of luminaries interacting in real-time. This historic gathering features painter Aaron Douglas, queer pioneer, artist, and writer Richard Bruce Nugent, and legendary composers and musicians Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle.
Legendary photographer James Van Der Zee and celebrated poet Arna Bontemps are also caught on camera, alongside Leigh Whipper, an actor born during Reconstruction who beautifully recites poetry from memory at 96 years old. Rounding out this extraordinary group is Ida Mae Cullen, the widow of the iconic Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen.
Though William Greaves considered this footage the most important he ever captured, the film remained unfinished at the time of his passing in 2014. The footage was meticulously restored, digitized, and completed by his son David, who actually worked the camera as a 22-year-old on that summer night in 1972.
Following a rapturous response at the Sundance Film Festival and a prestigious screening at Cannes, Neon snapped up the distribution rights with an eye toward a major fall awards campaign.
Reviewers have noted the beautiful, chaotic energy of the film, which features giant intellectuals passionately litigating art, history, and even debating whether the term “Negro” should be discarded for “Afro-American”.
The film is officially scheduled to hit theaters on October 16, a date intentionally chosen to fall just days after what would have been William Greaves’ 100th birthday on October 8.
