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A black and white, fantasy-like recreation of high-society gay men during the Harlem Renaissance, with archival footage and photographs intercut with a story. A wake is going on, with mourners gathered around a coffin. Downstairs is an elegant bar where tuxedoed men dance and talk. One of them has a dream in which he comes upon Beauty, who seems to reject him, although when he awakes, Beauty is sleeping beside him. His story and his visits to the jazz and dance club are framed by voices reading from the poetry and essays of Hughes and others. The text is rarely explicit, but the freedom of gay Black men in the 1920s in Harlem is suggested and celebrated visually.
Keywords
lgbt
harlem renaissance
gay theme
Casts
Ben Ellison
Alex
Matthew Baidoo
Beauty
Akim Mogaji
James
John Wilson
Karl
Dencil Williams
Marcus
Guy Burgess
Dean

Dublin James Wahlberg
Carlos
Harry Donaldson
Leatherboy

Jimmy Somerville
Angel

Langston Hughes
Self (archive footage)

Stuart Hall
British (voice)
Crews

Isaac Julien
Director

Isaac Julien
Screenplay
Nadine Marsh-Edwards
Producer
Nina Kellgren
Director of Photography
Robert Hargreaves
Editor
Wayson Jones
Original Music Composer
Trevor Mathison
Original Music Composer
Peter Spencer
Original Music Composer
Derek Brown
Art Direction
Ronald Bailey
Sound mixer
Backdrops & Posters










