'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' and Baldwin's Centennial at Film Forum

All Of It with Alison Stewart | Jan 16, 2024

This year, James Baldwin would be turning 100 years old. To celebrate his centennial, Film Forum is hosting a screening series of Baldwin-related films. "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is the first documentary to screen in the series. The film, directed by Dick Fontaine and Pat Hartley and released in 1982, was made with Baldwin, and chronicles his trip to the South twenty years after the end of the Civil Rights Movement. "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" was recently restored, and is screening at Film Forum through January 25. Hartley joins us to discuss the film alongside scholar and Baldwin expert Rich Blint, and we take your calls.

 

As part of the segment, Rich put together a reading list for anyone interested in diving deeper into Baldwin's work:

Giovanni’s Room

Going to Meet the Man 

Another Country

The Fire Next Time

The Devil Finds Work

The Collected Essays of James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, ed., Library of America

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