William Greaves

They are assembled by by a filmmaker who for many years had wanted to put together the survivors of the Harlem Renaissance to tell their stories.

He was William Greaves, himself an accomplished actor and filmmaker who did many cutting-edge films during the heyday of his career.

But it is his son and granddaughter, David Greaves and Leonie Greaves, who actually put together the many hours of filmed footage to create the documentary Once Upon a Time in Harlem.

David, I hadn't realized that you were actually one of the camera people for this afternoon in 72.

So she's seen it.

Yeah.

We're talking with the filmmakers behind the documentary Once Upon a Time in Harlem, conceived by and carried out the filming by actor and filmmaker William Greaves.

And then the documentary.

my list right now? Where should I start with this? Let's see.

I want to talk about a guy named William Greaves really quick here.

It's a two-part work by the name of Symbiopsychotaxoplasm.

Symbiopsychotaxoplasm Take One is the first iteration of this.

I'm Madeleine Brand.

In 1972, a filmmaker named William Greaves invited surviving luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance to a party at Duke Ellington's townhouse.

Writers, artists, journalists, activists, musicians.

It was an astonishing array of talent in one place.

no.

talking about this hindsight and all that stuff we did our thing we couldn't get to broadway and i said let's get together and do our own thing

well the filmmaker william greaves never turned his footage into a movie when he died in 2014 his wife began restoring that footage now his son david greaves has released the film in the form of a new documentary it's called once upon a time in harlem and david greaves joins me now to talk about it welcome

Hey, thank you very much for having me, Madeline.

There are screenings around the country, not screenings, there are showings around the country of a film.

William Greaves, the filmmaker, brilliant cultural meaning maker, created his children, son and daughter, have brought it to port now.

50 years after it was filmed almost no over 50 years now at this point 54 years after it was filmed called um once upon a time in harlem you've heard me talk about it before if you've got a screening near you please drop that in the embangis so that people will say youtube and the nubia embangis so people will see it and understand that at some point it's going to be released more broadly so everybody can see it.

If you have a device, you can purchase it and download it.

So what's interesting about this movie is it was actually filmed in August of 1972.

The director, William Greaves, he brought together a crew of people who at that point were still mostly older folks who were a part of the Harlem Renaissance.

He got them all in a room and had them chat just casually.

Had a few different people filming what they had to say.

It made me think about kind of, you know, continuation and how things change and how things stay the same.

But I think the idea that he was able to actually communicate this to his son and be able to have them finish it and keep that history.

Because to some degree, you know, at this point, William Greaves is the kind of person who would have been in a conversation like that if it was filmed a couple of years ago.

Yeah, yeah.