ONCE UPON A TIME IN HARLEM Teaser Trailer: William and David Greaves Take Us Back in Time in Their Decades-In-The-Making Opus
Having premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, Once Upon a Time in Harlem is a documentary you should not sleep on this year. The film consists entirely of footage shot in 1972 at a party that took place in Duke Ellington’s townhouse, featuring many influential figures from the Harlem Renaissance, which spanned the 1920s and 1930s. This time capsule was filmed by the late filmmaker William Greaves (Symbiopsychotaxiplasm), alongside his son David Greaves. Throughout the night, these figures and other party guests engage in lively banter, debate, and reflect on the personalities and artistic individuals that gave way to a historic movement that would shape the years to come. The film most recently had a glorious reception at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened in the Directors Fortnight section. Now set for an October 16 theatrical release, NEON has unveiled the teaser trailer with snippets of the evocative footage and conversations.
Our very own Jack Schenker interviewed David Greaves back at Sundance, along with producers Liani Graves and Anne de Mare. He said about the film, “Once Upon a Time in Harlem is the best film I saw at Sundance this year. It is also, in a sense, a miracle… With three 16mm cameras (one operated by his son David), [William] Greaves captured nearly 30 hours of footage as these artists and intellectuals reminisced, argued, laughed, and drank. Greaves considered the party the most important event he ever filmed. He spent the rest of his life trying to complete it. He died in 2014 without finishing… This is not a dry lesson or a nostalgia piece. It is a party, and you are invited.”
As the official synopsis reads:
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. Shot on 16mm film, newly restored and now directed by Greaves’ son David, this landmark film is at once a self-exploration and an inquiry into the heart of the critical mass of energy called the Harlem Renaissance. William Greaves’ intent was not only to document these artists and intellectuals as they spoke about their lives and work but also to plumb the meaning of the extraordinary creative period in which they lived to help us better understand how culture has been passed on from one generation to another and the role that the artist plays in keeping it alive.
Check out the teaser trailer and poster below.
