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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.
+ MoreA 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.
Already an established documentarian and having just made Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, William Greaves gathered some of the key artists, musicians, librarians, poets, journalists, actors, photographers, teachers, and critics of the Harlem Renaissance at Duke Ellington’s home for a party, which he filmed. The resulting lively conversations, built around vivid retelling of past events, are in part old friends reconnecting, in part a rehashing of familiar conflicts, and in part personal memories becoming recorded history. Co-directed by his son David Greaves, who was a cameraman that day at Ellington’s apartment, Once Upon A Time In Harlem is a staggering achievement, both as a record of one of the most significant artistic movements in American history, and also as a chronicle of the magical power of art and its creation to remake our world. — SS
Available in person only.
William Greaves
David Greaves
Liani Greaves
Anne de Mare
Lynn True
Anne de Mare
Tamar-kali
David Greaves
Doug Harris
David Hoffman
Jerry Pantzer
Clive Davidson
Roland Mitchell
Mike Frank
Sean Donnelly
Matt Hoffman
Yen Tan
Liani Greaves
liani@wgprodinc.com
Throughout his genre-defying career, filmmaker William Greaves was the producer, writer, director, cinematographer, and editor of 79 films. Spanning documentary, narrative, and hybrid forms, the films tell a vast, complex story about the major figures engaged in the fight for social justice, equal opportunity, and basic respect.
David Greaves is an award-winning filmmaker and journalist. He worked as cinematographer and editor on many of his father William Greaves’ films, including the famed feature film Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One. Significantly, he was one of the original cameramen during the 1972 shoot for Once Upon A Time In Harlem.
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