By: Renae Richardson
There are some films that an introduction would do an injustice to by lessening the levity of their content, but to fail to introduce them would be just as egregious, because the call to witness is essential. It is within that context that the upcoming film Once Upon a Time in Harlem is framed.
Harlem Renaissance
Harlem once stood as a touchpoint for creative, intellectual, and inspired minds. It became a place of rebirth, an awakening of the world to the gifts people of color had to bestow upon it. That movement came to be known as the “Harlem Renaissance.”
The Harlem Renaissance was an outgrowth of liberation spurred by the Great Migration, when many traveled north in search of more and better. Harlem was one of the cities to see a massive influx of newcomers. As the National Museum of African American History and Culture notes,
The Harlem section of Manhattan, which covers just three square miles, drew nearly 175,000 African Americans, giving the neighborhood the largest concentration of Black people in the world.”
Harlem became the place to be, a place where like minds could collaborate, absorb, and grow.
As it is also cited,
Alain Locke, a Harvard-educated writer, critic, and teacher who became known as the “dean” of the Harlem Renaissance, described it as a “spiritual coming of age” in which African Americans transformed “social disillusionment to race pride.”
Some of the best and brightest rose out of that moment, names that have become synonymous with excellence in whatever field they pursued.
Creative Legacy
As the National Museum of African American History and Culture records, some of those names include W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Cyril Briggs, and Walter Francis White; electrifying performers Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson; writers and poets Zora Neale Hurston, Effie Lee Newsome, and Countee Cullen; visual artists Aaron Douglas and Augusta Savage; and an extraordinary list of legendary musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Eubie Blake, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ivie Anderson, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, and countless others.
The Harlem Renaissance did come to an end in the 1920s, and one significant factor in that decline was the Stock Market Crash of 1929, which also marked the beginning of the Great Depression. Much has been recorded about the Harlem Renaissance, but one man’s effort to capture a singular moment that defined the depth of greatness within that collective resulted in a most unforgettable film, Once Upon a Time in Harlem.
“One Upon a Time in Harlem:” The Film
Once Upon a Time in Harlem. Image Source: Neon
One Upon a Time in Harlem began as a project by William Greaves in the 1970s and later became an inheritance within his family. Over the years, his wife, Louise, and his children, David and Liani, continued the work, culminating in the feature now set to premiere in theaters this fall.
Greaves captured a moment filled with emotional, energetic, creative, and intellectual exchange, one he helped orchestrate. Per Blexmedia
He hosted a cocktail party at Duke Ellington’s Harlem home and invited every surviving creator of the Harlem Renaissance he could locate, many of whom had not seen one another in over 50 years. For four hours, the group laughed, drank, and debated their place in a rapidly shifting cultural landscape. Greaves filmed all of it on 16mm.
It was a beautifully historic, unprecedented night, and he captured it all on film.
Why It Matters
Now the world will behold that fantastical night. Viewers will be able to absorb the powerful energy of collective creativity and ingenuity and, hopefully, leave inspired and more knowledgeable about the unlimited gifts that reside within the culture, including the culture to which they may be connected or influenced in some way, shape, or form.
For anyone who has ever wished to pick the brain of someone they admire, this will be a quietly fulfilling watch. It is not only historical; it is magical. The trailer has been released, and for those eager to see the piece, the premiere date is set for October 16th.
Original article
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