
Looking for Langston
A black and white, fantasy-like recreation of high-society gay men during the Harlem Renaissance, with archival footage and photographs intercut with a story. A wake is going on, with mourners gathered around a coffin. Downstairs is an elegant bar where tuxedoed men dance and talk. One of them has a dream in which he comes upon Beauty, who seems to reject him, although when he awakes, Beauty is sleeping beside him. His story and his visits to the jazz and dance club are framed by voices reading from the poetry and essays of Hughes and others. The text is rarely explicit, but the freedom of gay Black men in the 1920s in Harlem is suggested and celebrated visually.
Looking for Langston
October 31, 1989
18
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Cast (11)

Ben Ellison
Alex

Matthew Baidoo
Beauty

Akim Mogaji
James

John Wilson
Karl

Dencil Williams
Marcus

Guy Burgess
Dean

Dublin James Wahlberg
Carlos

Harry Donaldson
Leatherboy

Jimmy Somerville
Angel

Langston Hughes
Himself (archive footage)

Stuart Hall
British voice (voice)
Crew (10)
Directing

Isaac Julien
Director
Writing

Isaac Julien
Screenplay
Production

Nadine Marsh-Edwards
Producer
Sound

Ronald Bailey
Sound Mixer

Trevor Mathison
Original Music Composer

Wayson Jones
Original Music Composer

Peter Spencer
Original Music Composer
Art

Derek Brown
Art Direction
Camera

Nina Kellgren
Director of Photography
Costume & Make-Up
No data availableCrew
No data availableEditing

Robert Hargreaves
Editor