A party waited half a century
A film from a 1972 party inside Duke Ellington's townhouse won a $200,000 prize
The 1972 gathering brought together artists, writers and musicians who helped shape the Harlem Renaissance. Three generations of one filmmaking family carried the footage to the screen.
The room held people who had shaped the Harlem Renaissance, some meeting again after half a century apart. William Greaves' 16mm cameras followed their reminiscing and arguments. The footage outlived the unfinished project, and now the film it became has won a $200,000 prize.
The party happened inside Ellington's townhouse
In 1972, Greaves brought surviving figures from the Harlem Renaissance together for a cocktail gathering inside Duke Ellington's Harlem townhouse. The Library of Congress says he invited every creator from the movement he could locate.
The guest list crossed disciplines: painter Aaron Douglas, artist Romare Bearden, writer Arna Bontemps, writer and artist Richard Bruce Nugent, photographer James Van Der Zee and Ida Mae Cullen, the widow of poet Countee Cullen, were among those in the room. The Library says many had not seen one another in 50 years.
Despite the setting, this is not a concert film. The guests remember, disagree and examine what happened to the culture they helped create.
The project stayed in the family
Greaves filmed the gathering with multiple 16mm cameras but died in 2014 before finishing the project. His wife and creative partner, Louise Archambault Greaves, helped preserve his films and kept the townhouse footage moving toward completion, according to the production company.
Their son David Greaves, who had been one of the camera operators in 1972, eventually directed the completed film. David's daughter Liani Greaves served as a producer. The result is a historical record passed through three generations of one filmmaking family.
The cameras stayed close to the conversation
The film uses a cinema-verite approach, keeping its cameras inside the gathering as guests reminisce, argue and ask how culture survives from one generation to the next.
The gathering lasted more than three hours, with three cameramen working that night. David Greaves and his collaborators shaped that material into the 100-minute documentary Film at Lincoln Center lists today.
Five major festivals screened it in one year
According to the Library, Once Upon a Time in Harlem is the only 2026 film to screen at Sundance, Cannes, Telluride, Toronto and the New York Film Festival.
On September 18, the Library of Congress and its prize partners named the documentary the winner of the eighth annual Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film. The award carries $200,000. A separate film about Romare Bearden received the $50,000 runner-up prize.
The next screenings begin in New York
Film at Lincoln Center currently lists the documentary's New York premiere for September 29, followed by additional festival screenings. The Library says a select-theater release begins October 16.
The winner and runner-up are also scheduled to be honored in New York on October 22. More than half a century after Greaves placed cameras around the townhouse, the conversation is finally moving into rooms he never got to see filled.
Sources and supporting documents
Rowan Price is a named OMG editorial voice, not a fictional human biography. This story passed separate evidence, rights, line-editing, originality, and skeptical-review checks before publication.
Library of Congress NewsroomLavine/Ken Burns Prize awarded to Once Upon a Time in HarlemWilliam Greaves ProductionsOnce Upon a Time in Harlem: About the filmFilm at Lincoln CenterOnce Upon a Time in Harlem at the 64th New York Film FestivalLibrary of CongressDuke Ellington directing his band from the piano
