David Greaves

Thanks, Christiane.

Liani Greaves, David Greaves, thank you both so much for joining us

Thank you for having us

David Greaves, I'm going to start with you.

Before we get into that extraordinary afternoon in 1972-

Yes

There is a rich history behind America, behind African Americans in America, that has been, uh, lost, but here, here, here we are, and we are determined that it will be, it will be seen now, be seen in the future, and folks will l- l- look at it and say, "Yeah, I have to see this film.

I have to know about this, the, this time." And, uh, and it will not, it will not be erased.

[upbeat music] In August 1972, filmmaker William Greaves set out to capture a reunion of artists, poets, journalists, and educators whose work defined the Harlem Renaissance.

Greaves died in 2014, and now his son has completed the film titled Once Upon a Time in Harlem.

Shot at Duke Ellington's townhouse on St. Nicholas Ave, the rare footage shows luminaries in a spirited conversation about the cultural movement and moment.

We see terrific interactions, like photographer James Van Der Zee playing the piano for the first time in years.

Mm.

I, I am of the school of the artist, period.

I like that personally, but this is a, a debate.

So it, I think that's what's one of the more fascinating things about the film is that there's so much, um, that they're discussing that we're s- kind of still having these, we're still curious about and having those conversations today.

Yeah.

And then much, much later, decades later, completed by David Greaves, who was William Greaves' son, and by Liliana Greaves, who is William's granddaughter, daughter of David.

Uh, it's a very special film, and I, I just find it just so, so moving, so beautifully made.

It, it's for sure one of m- my favorites of the year.

There's conversation about that in the film.

But certainly we're at the, we're part of the cornerstone of one of the greatest generations.

So here's our conversation with Liliana Greaves, David Greaves, about their contribution and their participation in finishing the film that was created by William Greaves.

It's Once Upon a Time in Harlem.

I'm so excited to talk to you about the film Once Upon a Time in Harlem.

We have the filmmakers, director David Greaves and producer Liani Greaves here with us.

on the black girl nerds podcast just to give you a quick synopsis a decade after his death genre-defying filmmaker william graves 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 50 years, reminisced, critiqued, argued, laughed, and drank while wrestling with their place in a rapidly shifting cultural landscape.

Shot on 16 millimeter film, newly restored, and now directed by Graves' son, David, this landmark film is at once a self-exploration and inquiry into the heart of the critical mass of energy called the Harlem Renaissance.

Um, passed away without finishing this movie.

His son David Greaves, who was on hand while they were shooting the documentary, uh, finished it all these years later.

Um, it is about, it's 1972.

We're all going to Duke Ellington's townhouse, uh, in, in Harlem, and he, Greaves, has invited all of these luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance to come, they haven't seen each other in decades, to come just talk about the movement, tell stories.

...

these are, like, small, you know, miracles for archivists and restorationists, and this is, like, [laughs] the great work that folks like that do.

And just, like, yeah, the fact that David Greaves finally got to finish his father's vision of this.

Yeah.

We're very excited about that coming up.

We are going to have an interview with Liani Greaves and David Greaves, who are the makers of Once Upon a Time in Harlem, really magnificent film that is a strong Oscar contender.

David directed that film based on the work of his father, William Greaves.

And Liani is William Greaves' granddaughter, David's daughter.