William Greaves

Four Religions

William Greaves, David Millar

Françoise Faucher

Exploring four of the world's major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity.

Voice of La Raza

William Greaves

Anthony Quinn, Rita Moreno

Produced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, this film traces the ongoing struggle for equality by the Spanish-speaking residents of the United States. Through a fictitious scenario and real discussions with a range of individuals, including local business leaders, parents, and student activists, the film explores job discrimination and the resulting hardships within the Hispanic community. Many of the interviews are conducted by actor Anthony Quinn, who relates his own family's struggles as Mexican immigrants in East Los Angeles.

That's Black Entertainment

William Greaves

William Greaves

This documentary presents clips from black films from 1929 through 1957.

Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey

William Greaves

Few remember the name, much less the historical achievements, of Dr. Ralph Johnson Bunche. Yet, this African American mediator and United Nations diplomat was the first person of color anywhere in the world to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Black Power in America: Myth or Reality?

William Greaves

William Greaves, Lerone Bennett Jr.

The film questions whether the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s effectively changed the Black community, and American society more widely, and examines the notion of Black power itself. Greaves interviewed major Black leaders, such as Franklin Thomas, Clifton Wharton Jr., Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Lerone Bennett Jr. to present a candid take on issues within the African American community, revealing wider societal problems in America at large.

From These Roots

William Greaves

Explores the extraordinary artistic, cultural and political flowering that took place in Harlem during the "Roaring 20s." This vivid portrait of the "Harlem Renaissance" is created entirely with period photographs.

Nationtime

William Greaves

Sidney Poitier, Amiri Baraka

A report on the National Black Political Convention held in Gary, Indiana, in 1972, a historic event that gathered Black voices from across the political spectrum, among them Jesse Jackson, Dick Gregory, Coretta Scott King, Richard Hatcher, Amiri Baraka, Charles Diggs, and H. Carl McCall.

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One

William Greaves

Patricia Ree Gilbert , Don Fellows

In Manhattan's Central Park, a film crew directed by William Greaves is shooting a screen test with various pairs of actors. It's a confrontation between a couple: he demands to know what's wrong, she challenges his sexual orientation. Cameras shoot the exchange, and another camera records Greaves and his crew. Sometimes we watch the crew discussing this scene, its language, and the process of making a movie. Is there such a thing as natural language? Are all things related to sex? The camera records distractions - a woman rides horseback past them; a garrulous homeless vet who sleeps in the park chats them up. What's the nature of making a movie?

Emergency Ward

William Greaves

This 1959 documentary short is a frank portrait of the daily operations inside the Montreal General Hospital’s emergency ward.

Still A Brother: Inside the Negro Middle Class

William Greaves

Ossie Davis, Dr. Percy Julian

The Black middle class, torn between white goals and Black needs, are examined by producers William Greaves and William Branch in a 90-minute NET Journal documentary.

Ali - The Fighter

Rick Baxter, William Greaves

Muhammad Ali, George Foreman

Ali the Fighter was made in 1975, when the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight was still fresh in everyone's minds. Filmmaker William Greaves frames Ali's rise to glory, beginning with his "Cassius Clay" days back in Louisville.

Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice

William Greaves

Al Freeman, Jr.

Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice documents the dramatic life and turbulent times of the pioneering African American journalist, activist, suffragist and anti-lynching crusader of the post-Reconstruction period. Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison reads selections from Wells' memoirs and other writings in this winner of more than 20 film festival awards.

Lost Boundaries

Alfred L. Werker

Beatrice Pearson, Mel Ferrer

A light-skinned African-American family are "passing" in an all-white New England town. When the truth comes out, the more prejudiced neighbors demand their expulsion from the community.

Our Paul: Remembering Paul Robeson

Abbey Lustgarten

William Greaves, James Earl Jones

A retrospective look at the career of Paul Robeson and his legacy as both an American and a citizen of the world.

Souls of Sin

Powell Lindsay

William Greaves, Jimmy Wright

Unsuccessful gambler 'Dollar Bill' Burton lives in a crummy New York basement room with old friend Bob and a new roommate, friendly blues singer 'Alabama' Lee. But, tired of being broke, Dollar Bill gets more steady employment...doing illegal errands for gangster Bad Boy George. The now prosperous Bill ignores pretty, adoring Etta and takes up with sultry singer Regina. Will Bill's way of life catch up with him? Will his upright friends be more successful in the end?

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2 ½

William Greaves

William Greaves, Steve Buscemi

A movie about making movies about making movies. In 1968, William Greaves shot several pairs of actors in a scene in which a woman confronts her husband and ends their relationship. In "Take 2 1/2," Greaves starts with 1968 takes of one of these pairs of actors plus footage of the crew discussing the film's progress. Then, 35 years later, Greaves brings back to Central Park those actors and some of the original crew (plus others) to film a reunion of the characters Alice and Freddie. We watch scenes of these characters and discussions among the actors and crew. Greaves explores and dramatizes the dialectic in the creative process.