There’s a certain amount of responsibility on society as a whole to remember, echo and reiterate the strong voices of those that stood up for what was right. Upcoming documentary, I Am Not Your Negro, is one of the big accomplishments in recognition of that responsibility, putting the Civil Rights movement in the USA, and the impact of the words of James Baldwin, firmly at the centre of its construction.
Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, it’s based on Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript, Remember This House, which picks apart the history of racism and racial tension in the United States. It has already racked up an Academy Award nomination for its sterling efforts, and while it might not have quite the same resonance with people in the UK as it inevitably does in the US, it remains one of the most important non-fiction releases of the year.
Release date
I Am Not Your Negro has already been screened in the US, which is why it has the Oscars nod and a raft of positive reviews, but the UK release date is just coming up on the 7th April 2017. It’ll be out in the UK on the same weekend as Arnold Schwarzenegger drama Aftermath, dire animated comedy The Boss Baby and ropey Morgan Freeman and Michael Cane outing Going In Style, so there’s really only one film to catch.
About the film
The documentary is a collection of video archives of James Baldwin speaking out against the racial inequality, violence and injustice in his time and throughout the history of the US. It’s inter-connected with sections of Remember This House read by Samuel L. Jackson, providing a detailed expose on the fight that black American men, women and children have been forced to endure at the hands of racist actions.
It includes Baldwin’s reminiscences of his time with leading civil rights activists, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Medgar Evans. Combined, they helped to pave the way for significant civil rights changes, bringing much more equality, awareness and tolerance to society in the US. It has also been constructed to link the issues of the past with those of the present, reiterating the need for more consideration and positive change.
I Am Not Your Negro trailer:
Production
The film is the work of Haitian director Raoul Peck with directors of photography Henry Adebonojo, Bill Ross and Turner Ross, editor Alexander Strauss, and music from Alexei Aigui. It’s been produced by Rémi Grellety, Hébert Peck and Raoul Peck
First impressions
You’ve only got to watch the first few moments of the trailer for I Am Not Your Negro to become entirely overtaken by the importance of the film and the impact of James Baldwin as a writer and speaker. Samuel L. Jackson sounds like he’s done a great job of narrating it and Raoul Peck has strung it all up for the whole world to see, marking a cross on a history of wrongs that go back generations.
