Once Upon a Time in Harlem is a 2026 American documentary film directed by William Greaves and David Greaves, and produced by Liani Greaves and Anne de Mare. It follows a gathering of the surviving members of the Harlem Renaissance. Shot in 1972, it remained unfinished for fifty years, until David revisited the footage following his father's death.
The film had its world premiere at the Premieres section of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on January 25. It was also screened at the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the L'Œil d'or.
Premise William Greaves presents footage of a 1972 party he convened at Duke Ellington’s townhouse in Harlem with living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance, an event he regarded as the most important he captured on film. Greaves invited every surviving participant he could locate. Many had not seen one another for decades. They included the painter Aaron Douglas; the artist and writer Richard Bruce Nugent; the poet Arna Bontemps; the musicians Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle; the photographer James Van Der Zee; and Ida Mae Cullen, the widow of Countee Cullen.Harlem Renaissance documentary finally gets global premiere 50 years after cameras rolled|Cannes film festival|The Guardian
Release Once Upon a Time in Harlem had its world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on January 25. In February 2026, Neon acquired U.S. distribution rights to the documentary.
It was also selected to the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its international premiere on May 18, and was nominated for the L'Œil d'or. It was also selected for the 53rd Telluride Film Festival, the Wavelengths section of the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, and the Main Slate of the 2026 New York Film Festival.
The film is scheduled to be released in the United States on October 16, 2026.
Reception Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 93 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
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