Once Upon a Time in Harlem

Career Award William Greaves

Full Frame honors the work of pioneering filmmaker William Greaves. Filmmakers Sam Pollard and Thomas Allen Harris, among others, will join Full Frame in recognizing Greaves’s significant impact on documentary cinema. The tribute will feature Greaves’s earliest film, The First World Festival of Negro Arts, as well as an excerpt of Greaves’s current work-in-progress, Once Upon a Time in Harlem, which explores the roots of African American cultures—and his own roots—in the community where he was born and raised. Narrated by Sidney Poitier, this film will offer a rare look at the history of Harlem—from the Renaissance to today—incorporating never-before-seen footage of Renaissance luminaries Greaves captured during a party held in Duke Ellington’s Harlem townhouse in 1971.

Director

William Greaves

Festival Year

2008

Country

United States

Run Time

20 minutes