More than fifty years after gathering Harlem Renaissance legends at Duke Ellington’s New York townhouse, pioneering documentarian William Greaves’ unfinished film Once Upon a Time in Harlem is finally arriving in theaters on October 16, following years of multigenerational restoration work led by his son David and granddaughter Liani.
The 1972 Townhouse Gathering That Captured Cultural History
The roots of the project stretch back to August 1972, when William Greaves organized a remarkable reunion of surviving Harlem Renaissance artists and intellectuals at Duke Ellington’s St. Nicholas Avenue townhouse. Rather than employing actors to reenact history, the filmmaker brought together figures who had lived it, many of whom had not seen one another in decades. Observing, in 1970, what he described as mainstream American media’s disinterest in interrogating the mounting crises of the day, the pioneering documentarian William Greaves published a forceful op-ed in the New York Times, calling on media executives to exhibit courage and invest in a media ecosystem that could educate and empower audiences. What constructive suggestions can a Black producer offer the irrelevant, frightened media establishment, that has been too frightened to speak the truth,
Greaves ponders in the article.
The room buzzed with artists, activists, and writers hashing out their places within one of America’s most influential cultural movements. The gathering featured painters Aaron Douglas and Ernest Crichlow, queer cultural pioneer Richard Bruce Nugent, composer Eubie Blake, actor and activist Leigh Whipper, poet Arna Bontemps, photographer James Van Der Zee, and activists Richard B. Moore and Louise Patterson. Curiously, though, no Duke Ellington. He was ill, apparently, and couldn’t attend,
David, who was in the room in 1972 working as a cameraman under his father, told Deadline during an expansive interview alongside Liani ahead of Sundance.
The shoot generated approximately 60,000 feet of 16mm film. The footage was originally shot for a film about the Harlem Renaissance called From These Roots, which Greaves completed in 1974, using only archival materials. The interviews and discussions from the party were put to the side. While William Greaves considered the footage enormously important, he never managed to complete the project before his death in 2014. Greaves, who went on to become a major figure of American independent cinema, completing more than 200 films including the now-seminal Symbiopsychotaxiplasm films, believed Once Upon a Time in Harlem was his greatest work. He spent much of the rest of his life wrestling with how to finish the film.
How David and Liani Greaves Finished Their Family Opus
The path from raw archival reels to a completed feature required a dedicated family undertaking. David Greaves had originally worked in the room in 1972 as a cameraman under his father. Decades later, guided by notes and workprints left behind, he returned to the footage to shape the 100-minute documentary.
William Greaves’ widow and longtime creative partner, Louise Archambault Greaves, worked alongside producer Anne de Mare to preserve and digitize the massive collection. After Louise passed away in 2023, David and his daughter, Liani Greaves—who serves as a producer on the completed film alongside de Mare—fully picked up the mantle to finish the project. Producer Anne de Mare worked with William’s widow and longtime creative partner, Louise Archambault Greaves, to preserve and digitize the massive collection of previously unseen footage. David Greaves is credited as the film’s sole director, though his father is uniquely billed as having conceived and filmed
the documentary. The film was produced by Liani Greaves and Anne de Mare, who edited it alongside Lynn True.
Unfinished portions of the documentary were showcased in 2024 and 2025 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. Anticipation that the film may finally be near completion began late last year.
From Festival Premieres to a Nationwide Theatrical Release
From the moment it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, it was clear that Once Upon a Time in Harlem
was a monumental event in the nonfiction film space. Following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, the documentary traveled to the Cannes Film Festival with stops at the Telluride, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals ahead in the coming weeks.
Audiences nationwide can experience the film when Neon releases it theatrically on October 16.
Film Forum Curates a Centennial Retrospective
The arrival of Once Upon a Time in Harlem opens Oct. 16 before Film Forum celebrates Greaves’ centennial. One week later, Film Forum will turn the spotlight back on the elder Greaves with William Greaves 100,
an Oct. 23-29 centennial celebration of the filmmaker’s work. William Greaves (Centennial celebration of pioneering African American filmmaker/1926-2014).
