Assistive Technologies

James Baldwin Abroad: A Program of 3 Films

Runtime
1hr 24mins
Directed by
Sedat Pakay, Terence Dixon, Horace Ové
Featuring
James Baldwin
Body

James Baldwin: the brilliant thinker, writer, and activist whose prescient essays, plays, and novels continue to shine a searing light on American racism 35 years after his death.

Born in 1924, in Harlem, Baldwin spent much of his life abroad, and in these three short films — made in Istanbul, Paris, and London (with Dick Gregory) — he can be charming, candid, churlish, witty, and acerbic. Whether ruminating on his own “American-ness,” his experience as a child-minister, Black Power, or the nature of love and sexuality, creativity, freedom, and survival — his unsparing opinions are never less than eye-opening, and his onscreen presence never less than riveting. All three films included in this program have been recently restored.

About the Films

JAMES BALDWIN: FROM ANOTHER PLACE

(dir. Sedat Pakay, Turkey 1973)

12 min - B&W - 1.37

New Restoration. A Cinema Conservancy Release

Sedat Pakay was a Turkish photographer and filmmaker who specialized in portraits of artists, including Andy Warhol, Gordon Parks, Mark Rothko, and many others. Shot in Istanbul - where Baldwin lived off and on throughout the 1960s - James Baldwin: From Another Place finds the author in a reflective mood, discussing his work, sexuality, and complex feelings about the United States. Preserved by the Yale Film Archive with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation.

 

MEETING THE MAN: JAMES BALDWIN IN PARIS

(dir. Terence Dixon, UK 1971)

26 min - Color - 1.37

New Restoration. Released by The Film Desk

Returning to Paris, where he first moved (or escaped to) in 1948, James Baldwin visits the Place de la Bastille in the company of white British filmmaker Terence Dixon to discuss the contradictory manner in which revolutions (French, Colonial, and Black American) are portrayed and considered. Sparring verbally with Dixon - to whom he could issue a knockout intellectual blow at any moment - Baldwin once again proves himself to be the great thinker of modern times. Picture and audio restoration by Mark Rance, Watchmaker Films, London.

 

BALDWIN'S N*****

(dir. Horace Ové, UK 1968)

46 min - B&W - 1.37

New Restoration. Released by Janus Films.

In this riveting short documentary by pioneering Trinidadian-British filmmaker Horace Ové, James Baldwin and comedian-activist Dick Gregory speak to a group of radical West Indian students in London about everything from the state of the civil rights movement to the perils of false consciousness. The provocative title, drawn from Baldwin’s words, refers to one of the painful realities of Black American identity: that even his name conjures a history of slavery. Restoration courtesy of the British Film Institute.

This Week

  • Winner of Best Documentary at the 2024 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards.

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  • Cultures collide when an introverted doctor brings his white boyfriend home to meet his traditional East Indian family.

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  • Follows a story of love, friendship, grief, and healing, about a writer (Naomi Watts) who adopts a Great Dane that belonged to a late friend and mentor.

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  • From the Academy Award-winning writer/director of Parasite, Bong Joon Ho, comes his next groundbreaking cinematic experience.

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  • Everything is based on memory.

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  • Princess Mononoke

    New 4K restoration directly overseen by Studio Ghibli’s own Atsushi Okui!

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  • The documentary from Frederick Wiseman follows the production of seven ballets by the Paris Opera Ballet.

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  • From Director Andrew Ahn comes a joyful comedy of errors about a chosen family navigating cultural identity, queerness, and family expectations. 

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  • From Ryan Coogler, director of Black Panther and Creed, and starring Michael B. Jordan comes a new vision of fear.

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  • An expansive and revelatory inside look at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s life in Greenwich Village in the early 1970s.

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  • David Lynch's startling debut feature is a lasting cult sensation influenced by the writings of Franz Kafka and Nikolai Gogol.

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  • Peter Jackson brings J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings from page to screen in this epic, Academy-Award winning trilogy, in 35mm!

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  • Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and above all things, Love.

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  • Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and Richard Harris star in this unsparing Western saga of a man who cannot escape his violent destiny.

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  • Hamlet 1964

    Pre-film lecture by Harlow Robinson, Professor of History at Northeastern University. 

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  • central park 1989

    New 4K restoration!

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  • Sharon D. Clarke is joined by Ncuti Gatwa in this reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s most celebrated comedy.

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  • After every screening, join us for a Rewind! afterparty in our brand new Education and Community Engagement Center for themed fun, food, and drinks!

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