This event is excluded from the HOME Film Pass
Several years after the peak of the civil rights movement, James Baldwin undertook a pilgrimage through the American South. Filmmakers Pat Hartley and Dick Fontaine travelled with Baldwin, documenting his intense and intimate journey to confront the past and revisit the haunted places where the fight for justice had taken place just two decades before.
Though Baldwin serves as our guide on this emotional trip, he is often the one asking the questions, making room for others to talk about the history and contested legacy of the civil rights movement. From Washington, D.C. to St. Augustine, Florida, Baldwin retraces the painful steps of history, interviewing grassroots activists and – perhaps most fascinatingly – holding an unguarded conversation with his brother, David.
Originally aired in the UK on ITV, and rarely seen since its initial broadcast , I Heard it Through the Grapevine has now been restored in 4K by Harvard Film Archive. A welcome rediscovery, it provides essential insights into Baldwin’s life, ideas and work, and raises vital questions about the story of the civil rights movement.
Event/ This screening will be preceded by a specially recorded introduction by director Pat Hartley, and followed by a discussion led by Gary Younge (author, broadcaster and Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester) and Remi Joseph-Salisbury (Reader in Sociology at the University of Manchester).