Neon will release the documentary — conceived by the late William Greaves and completed by his son David — in theaters October 16
More than 50 years after the footage was shot, Once Upon a Time in Harlem is finally coming to theaters. Neon has set an October 16 release date for the long-awaited documentary, and the first teaser has arrived. Watch it above.
The film’s origins trace back to 1972, when filmmaker William Greaves did something extraordinary. 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.
The footage was originally intended for a film about the Harlem Renaissance called From These Roots, which Greaves completed in 1974 using only archival materials. The party recordings were set aside, but Greaves never let them go. He went on to become a major figure of American independent cinema, completing over 70 films including the now-seminal Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, yet he considered Once Upon a Time in Harlem his greatest work and spent much of the rest of his life wrestling with how to finish it. He died in 2014 with the film incomplete. His widow Louise Greaves continued the work until her own death in 2023, at which point their son David and his daughter Liani picked up the mantle and brought the project home.
The October 16 release date is no coincidence. It falls just days after what would have been William Greaves’ centenary on October 8.
The film made its debut at Sundance earlier this year, where Neon acquired it in a competitive situation that included Netflix and Mubi, before traveling to Cannes. One Sundance critic described watching it as “unearthing treasure,” calling it an immersive and masterfully rendered oral history of the Harlem Renaissance. Film producer Anne de Mare oversaw the restoration and digitization of the original footage.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem opens in theaters October 16.