Once Upon a Time in Harlem is one of the best documentaries of the year

The film takes place at a party in 1972, when key figures of the Harlem Renaissance reunite for a night at Duke Ellington's apartment.

In 1972, filmmaker William Graves threw what we now know to be one of the great parties of the 20th century: He commandeered Duke Ellington's Harlem apartment and arranged for a special group of old friends and colleagues, many of whom hadn't seen each other in 50 years, to reunite. Invitees were key figures of the Harlem Renaissance, including muralist Aaron Douglas, poet and novelist Arna Bontemps, Society editor Gary Major, jazz pianist and composer Eubie Blake, and many others. Graves' aim was to film the event - he appointed his son David as one of the cameramen - and turn it into a documentary that serves not only as a record of how these people lived and achieved, but also as a way of thinking about how to honor those who are the repository of our past. For a few hours in 1972, Harlem was back in 1925. Laughing, arguing, and reminiscing about a great era in American history—as well as about their long-gone band members—this group of people recaptured lightning in a bottle. And yet, the resulting film, Once Upon a Time in Harlem, is one we've almost never seen.

Graves, who had made a name for himself with experimental documentaries such as Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968) as well as founding the pioneering public television program Black Journal, considered the Harlem Renaissance film to be one of the most important projects of his life. But although he worked on it for years, he was unable to complete it before his death in 2014. Eventually, the film he envisioned was brought to life by David Graves and his daughter—William's granddaughter—producer Leanne Graves. Once upon a time in Harlem is one of the great documentaries of its time and definitely this year. It is history that breathes.

Conversations ripple through the room, often spurred by Graves himself, who was not only a filmmaker but also a poet and sculptor, a man who acted and danced. (The film is brilliantly edited by Ann Demar and Lynn Trew.) Ida Mae Cullen, the widow of the Cullen County poet, forcefully reminds the group that the Harlem Renaissance really only lasted one decade, the 1920s, though waves of it repeated decades before and after. For this group, politics and art are so intertwined that they cannot be distinguished. At one point, a fierce yet civil debate breaks out over the principles and philosophy of Back to Africa activist Marcus Garvey: There is mutual respect in this room, but no such thing as consensus. Among other things, Once Upon a Time in Harlem might make you long for a time when people, including intellectuals, really knew how to dress: Society's editor-in-chief, dressed in a striking, patterned dress, wears about 10 gaudy bracelets on each wrist and pulls it off magnificently.

What's striking about Once Upon a Time in Harlem is the seemingly casual quality of most of these taped conversations. Regina Andrews, regal in a white lace dress and colorful turquoise earrings and necklace, tells of a career she began as a young woman as a librarian at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library. Shortly after he was hired, his superiors explained that certain poets and writers often came to the library to work. They had reserved special rooms for them. He and his roommate befriended many of these notables, including Cullen and Langston Hughes, and often hosted small gatherings in their apartment. problem? They did not have enough utensils to go around. And so one New Year's Day, when Andrews and his friends set out to explore the area's Chinese restaurants, the men—unbeknownst to him—picked up a few plates here and a few cups there. Suddenly, Andrews had enough crockery and cutlery for everyone, pieces he had treasured for years.

It may seem like a minor thing, having enough dishes to entertain your circle of poet and writer friends. But as Andrews tells that story, it seems anything but small. "It was just the joy of living and creating together," he explains—a summation of what it must be like to be alive in such a glorious time, the "now" that, thanks to Graves and his family, is becoming a part of our lives as well.