The Harlem Renaissance is returning to the big screen through the voices of artists who helped shape it — and New Yorkers will have four opportunities to experience their stories for free.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and NEON, in partnership with the New York City Office of the Mayor, will present free screenings of “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” on Oct. 24 and 25 at AMC Magic Johnson Harlem, Film Forum, and Film at Lincoln Center.
Conceived and filmed by pioneering New York filmmaker William Greaves and directed by his son, David Greaves, the documentary captures an extraordinary 1972 gathering of Harlem Renaissance artists, writers, and cultural figures at Duke Ellington’s townhouse. Their conversations bring the movement into intimate focus through spirited debate, candid reflection, laughter, and memories.
“‘Once Upon A Time In Harlem’ brings the personalities, ideas, and debates behind the Harlem Renaissance to life for a new generation of New Yorkers,” Mamdani said in a statement. “We are proud to partner with the filmmaking team to offer free screenings to New Yorkers this weekend, ensuring that as many New Yorkers as possible get the chance to experience this film.”
“Our city owes a debt of gratitude to the artists of the Harlem Renaissance whose enduring legacy is still felt in every jazz club, in every gallery, and in the movement for social justice that still continues to this day,” he added.
In 1972, William Greaves assembled surviving artists and intellectuals whose work helped define the Harlem Renaissance. Among those gathered were Aaron Douglas, Romare Bearden, Gerri Major, Arna Bontemps, Richard Bruce Nugent, James Van Der Zee, and Ida Mae Cullen, widow of poet Countee Cullen.
Captured on 16mm film, the gathering offers a rare opportunity to encounter these cultural figures in conversation with one another rather than solely through the work they left behind. They reflect on their achievements, challenge one another, and consider the legacy of a movement born in New York City that would resonate around the world.
The documentary’s intimacy rests in those exchanges. Its participants are not simply names in a history lesson; they are people with distinct personalities, perspectives, and memories, considering the culture they helped create.
Their conversation also raises questions that extend beyond the afternoon itself: How does a community preserve its artistic history? Who carries that history forward? And what can future generations learn by listening to the people who lived it?
The film’s completion represents an act of preservation spanning three generations of the Greaves family.
William Greaves conceived and filmed the project. His son, David, directed it, and his granddaughter, Liani Greaves, produced it. William’s wife, Louise Archambault Greaves, also worked tirelessly to bring the film to audiences.
After William’s death in 2014, Louise worked closely with Liani and brought aboard producer and editor Anne de Mare. Following Louise’s death in 2023, David, Liani, and de Mare finished the documentary.
“William Greaves believed deeply in the power of art to preserve history as well as inspire audiences and future generations,” David Greaves and Liani Greaves said in a joint statement. “We know it would have meant so much to him to see Mayor Mamdani and the Office of the Mayor champion this film and help bring it to New Yorkers and especially back to Harlem where he was born and raised.”
According to NEON, “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” is the only film this year to screen at Sundance, Cannes, Telluride, Toronto, and the New York Film Festival. It also received five Critics Choice Documentary Award nominations, including Best Documentary, and won the 2026 Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Film Prize and the Maysles Film Center’s Albie Award in Harlem.
The free screenings bring that festival journey back to the city at the center of the film, giving New Yorkers another way to engage with the artists and ideas that helped shape its cultural identity.
A connection to the Amsterdam News
The documentary also carries a connection to the Amsterdam News, which is mentioned in the film. For CBN’s “Studio 5: Harlem Renaissance” episode, interviews with the filmmakers took place right inside the newspaper’s historic Harlem offices. The segment also features the Amsterdam News’ Siobhan Bennett.
That setting gives the conversation an added resonance: filmmakers discussing the preservation of Black cultural history sat inside an institution that continues to document it.
The connection brings the documentary’s themes close to home. Preserving history depends not only on the people who make it, but also on those who record their voices, safeguard their work, and ensure that future generations can encounter it.
Free NYC screening schedule
Saturday, Oct. 24
1 p.m. — AMC Magic Johnson Harlem, 2309 Frederick Douglass Blvd., New York, NY 10027.
4:45 p.m. — Film Forum, 209 W. Houston St., New York, NY 10014.
Sunday, Oct. 25
1 p.m. — AMC Magic Johnson Harlem, 2309 Frederick Douglass Blvd., New York, NY 10027.
3:45 p.m. — Howard Gilman Theater at Film at Lincoln Center, 144 W. 65th St., New York, NY 10023.
How to claim your free ticket
Guests must RSVP in advance using the screening signup form.
A reservation does not guarantee admission. Organizers say the screenings will be overbooked, with seats distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Guests must have their names on the RSVP list to be considered for entry and should keep their email confirmations available in case staff members have difficulty locating a reservation.
Seat-saving is not permitted. Guests arriving separately may not be accommodated if the theater reaches capacity before their arrival.
Organizers recommend arriving at least 30 minutes before the screening, though lines could begin forming hours earlier.
