James Baldwin : the price of the ticket
Karen Thorsen (Film director, Film producer, Screenwriter), William Miles (Film producer), Douglas K. Dempsey (Film producer, Screenwriter), Susan Lacy (Film producer), Albert Maysles (Film producer), James Baldwin (Speaker, Interviewee), Maya Angelou (Speaker, Commentator), Amiri Baraka (Speaker, Commentator), David Adams Leeming (Commentator), Lucien Happersberger (Commentator), William Cole (Commentator), Ishmael Reed (Commentator), William Styron (Commentator), Engin Cezzar (Commentator), Yaşar Kemal (Commentator), James Briggs Murray (Commentator), Frances Foster (Commentator), Bobby Short (Commentator), Martin Luther King (Speaker), Malcolm X (Speaker), Eldridge Cleaver (Speaker), Don Lenzer, Steven Olswang, Nobody Knows Productions (Production company), Maysles Films (Production company), WNET (Television station : New York, N.Y.) (Production company), California Newsreel (Firm)
This film presents a look at the life and influence of author James Baldwin (1924-1987), at once a major twentieth century American author, a Civil Rights activist and, for two crucial decades, a prophetic voice calling Americans, Black and white, to confront their shared racial tragedy. Combining archival footage, home movies, television clips, and interviews with friends, family members, and colleagues, as well as readings from his works and scenes from his plays, this documentary captures the passionate intellect and courageous writing of a man who was born Black, impoverished, gifted and gay. Born in Harlem, the eldest of nine children, Baldwin wrote his first play at age eight and went on to write such influential works as Go tell it on the mountain, Giovanni's room, Another country, and The fire next time. This documentary discusses his life in France and Turkey, his homosexuality and his return to the U.S. to participate in the Civil Rights Movement. This comprehensive biography concludes with his death from cancer in 1987 and his funeral at New York's St. John the Divine. Among those who reminisce about the author are Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, William Styron, and Baldwin's biographer David Leeming
DVD Video, English, 2004