Working from the text of James Baldwin's unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck (Moloch Tropical, Murder in Pacot) creates a stunning meditation on what it means to be Black in America.

In this film, Raoul Peck envisions REMEMBER THIS HOUSE, the book James Baldwin never finished -a radical narration about race in America, through the lives and assassinations of three of his friends: Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers (NAACP member) and Malcolm X. using only the writer's original words.

A film by Raoul Peck

USA / France / Belgium / Switzerland, 2016, feature Documentary, 93 minutes, PG, colour / bw, English

with Samuel L. Jackson (English Version) / JoeyStarr (for the French version)

Tags: Film, Literary Interest, USA, Activism, Social Change, Documentary, Black + African Diaspora

NOTE OF THE PROGRAMMER
In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his new endeavour: the writing of his final book, Remember This House, recounting the lives and successive assassinations of his friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Baldwin was not able to complete the book before his death, and the unfinished manuscript was entrusted to director Raoul Peck (Moloch Tropical, Murder in Pacot) by the writer's estate.

Built exclusively around Baldwin's words, Peck's I Am Not Your Negro delves into the complex legacy of three lives (and deaths) that permanently marked the American social and political landscape. Framing the unfinished work as a radical narration about race in America, Peck matches Baldwin's lyrical rhetoric with rich archival footage of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, and connects these historical struggles for justice and equality to the present-day movements that have taken shape in response to the killings of young African-American men including Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, and Amir Brooks.

Exploring what it means to be Black in America today, Peck reflects on the legacy of racial violence that still permeates the country. In Baldwin's words, "You cannot lynch me and keep me in ghettos without becoming something monstrous yourselves. And furthermore, you give me a terrifying advantage: you never had to look at me; I had to look at you. I know more about you than you know about me. Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." By revealing the deep connections between past and present injustice, I Am Not Your Negro weaves an epic narrative about America's irrational relationship with skin colour - a relationship that would be absurd were it not so tragic.

Cameron BAILEY (Toronto, TIFF 2016)

Director
Raoul Peck

Producers
Rémi Grellety, Raoul Peck, Hébert Peck

Cinematographers
Henry Adebonojo, Bill Ross, Turner Ross

Cast (Voice Over)
Samuel L. Jackson (English Version)
JoeyStarr (for the French version)

Website: www.velvet-film.com/


2016 | 41st Toronto International Film Festival - TIFF 2016, Canada
* Selection : TIFF Docs
* World Premiere / Première Mondiale
* Prix du Public pour le documentaire (Grolsch People's Choice Documentary Award) au Festival International du Film de Toronto (TIFF 2016), dont c'était la édition. Le film sera distribué en salles p
* Sat Sep 10
* Sun Sep 11
* Mon Sep 12
* Wed Sep 14
* Fri Sep 16
www.tiff.net/films/i-am-not-your-negro-or-remember-this-house/