Directed by David Greaves, in the documentary film ‘Once Upon a Time in Harlem,’ 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.
‘Once Upon a Time in Harlem’ features artists Aaron Douglas, Richard Bruce Nugent, Ernest Crichlow and Romare Bearden, composers Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, actor Leigh Whipper, poet Arna Bontemps, librarian Regina Andrews, activists Richard B. Moore and Louise Patterson, journalists Gerri Major and Ted Poston, historian John Henrik Clarke, theater impresarios Irvin C. Miller and Abram Hill, photographer James Van Der Zee, and more – as well as William Greaves himself.
Producers of ‘Once Upon a Time in Harlem’ include Liani Greaves and Anne de Mare. Production companies are William Greaves Productions (co-founded by William Greaves’ wife, Louise Archambault Greaves), in association with the Ford Foundation, JustFilms, the Mellon Foundation, and Cromwell Harbor Foundation.
The film’s cinematography is by David Greaves, Doug Harris, David Hoffman, and Jerry Pantzer, the music is by Tamar-kali, with editing by Lynn True and Anne de Mare.
Watch the trailer below:
NEON will release ‘Once Upon a Time in Harlem’ in theaters on October 16, 2026.
For more details, visit the official website here: https://www.onceuponatimeinharlemfilm.com
