Once Upon a Time in Harlem: It’s a flashback to the 70’s and Harlem Renaissance reflections

I am not quite a historian but I love history - so how about saluting NEON for coming up with this Once Upon a Time in Harlem must-see focusing on a single 1972 outing where discussions on the Harlem Renaissance from real-life game-changers? My goodness.

It’s goosebumps just watching this vintage footage and getting to ultimately take a time machine back to the 70’s and one of the most iconic parts of New York City. Fully tap in.

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.