Harlem Renaissance Documentary Finds New Life 50 Years Later

A documentary that was left unfinished for more than fifty years could now be a possible Oscar contender in 2027.

Once Upon a Time in Harlem, by director William Greaves, captures a party in 1972 attended by leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance, described as one of the most significant Black artistic and cultural movements of the 20th Century.

The footage was revisited by Greaves's son David after his father's death in 2014.

The completed film is screening at the BFI London Film Festival this weekend, after also showing at the New York Film Festival, from where Tom Brook reports.

PHOTO CREDIT: NEON/Cinetic Media