Upcoming James Baldwin Doc Gets Title, To Be Narrated By Samuel L. Jackson
James Baldwin
The words of black American writer/social critic James Baldwin are equally harrowing and prophetic, and they're the inspiration for one of the most anticipated films of 2017.
I Am Not Your Negro, a documentary by Haitian director Raoul Peck, is inspired by the unfinished manuscript to Baldwin's Remember This House, "a sweeping narrative exploring the lives and journeys of ... Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr.," according to Shadow and Act.
The film looks to tell Baldwin's story, to show the lives of those three civil rights leaders, chronicle the racism and violence that took their lives. Samuel L. Jackson speaks Baldwin's words and thoughts, and the film uses an assortment of clips from cinema, news, interviews, and photos from the past and present. The film currently has an 88 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
"What makes it so compelling is that Peck is able to get at the core of what James Baldwin’s life’s work was," according to Shadow and Act's Aramide A. Tinubu. "By removing the talking heads and the conventional linear narrative that we see so often in non-fiction work, Peck forces the audience to feel or at least acknowledge what we’ve always felt."
Watch the new trailer for I Am Not Your Negro below. The film is scheduled for a Feb. 3 release.
