32329
32329

Looking for Langston

1989-10-31
5
en 45m
Drama
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.

Director

Isaac Julien

Director of Photography

Nina Kellgren

Sound mixer

Ronald Bailey

Producer

Nadine Marsh-Edwards

Original Music Composer

Peter Spencer

Art Direction

Derek Brown

lgbt harlem renaissance gay theme

Status

Released

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Companies

  • BFI
  • Sankofa Film & Video