Looking for Langston

Looking for Langston

1989
45m
4.8

4.8/10

22 votes • View on IMDb
Overview

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.

Status: Released

Language: EN

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Production Information

Production Companies
BFI Sankofa Film & Video
Production Countries
United Kingdom
Spoken Languages
English

Quick Facts

Release Date October 31, 1989
Status Released
Language EN
IMDb ID tt0095545

Cast

Ben Ellison
Ben Ellison

Alex

Matthew Baidoo
Matthew Baidoo

Beauty

Akim Mogaji
Akim Mogaji

James

John Wilson
John Wilson

Karl

Dencil Williams
Dencil Williams

Marcus

Guy Burgess
Guy Burgess

Dean

Dublin James Wahlberg
Dublin James Wahlberg

Carlos

Harry Donaldson
Harry Donaldson

Leatherboy

Jimmy Somerville
Jimmy Somerville

Angel

Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes

Self (archive footage)

Stuart Hall
Stuart Hall

British (voice)

Key Crew

Isaac Julien
Director
Isaac Julien
Screenplay
Nadine Marsh-Edwards
Producer