William Greaves, Pioneering African American Filmmaker

FEATURE PHOTO

William Greaves, Producer/Director

By David Pitts
Washington File Staff Writer

New York, New York -- William Greaves, a leading independent African American filmmaker, has done it all, as actor, director, producer and writer. His most recent achievement, a film about Ralphe Bunche, the late black U.S. diplomat who served as under-secretary general of the United Nations, was broadcast nationwide in the United States on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS).

The film, which has won worldwide acclaim, portrays Bunche's rise from working class roots in Detroit, Michigan, to accomplished international diplomat, as well as his role in promoting peacekeeping, decolonization, human rights in the world and civil rights at home. Greaves was executive producer, director and writer of the film.

In a recent interview at his Manhattan studio, the veteran filmmaker discussed the Bunche documentary, his work in general and his upcoming visit to Brazil (March 2 to 12). "The centerpiece of my trip will be my most recent work on Ralph Bunche," Greaves said. "Bunche was a master at conflict resolution. He was the Michael Jordan of his day in terms of international diplomacy, and was very much involved in the emerging civil rights movement in America as well."

Asked why he made a film about the U.N. official now -- more than 50 years after Bunche won the Nobel Peace Prize for his successful negotiation of armistice agreements between Israel and four Arab states, Greaves explained that "he was famous at the time; then he disappeared. I wanted to bring him back." The filmmaker said that in his meetings with Afro-Brazilian filmmakers, he expects to discuss the content of the film as well as how it was made.

"I will be prepared to talk about the many techniques of documentary filmmaking I employed in making this film," he said, including sound effects, musical accompaniment, computer enhancement and narration as well as the role of editing and research, including interviews. He conducted all the interviews included in the film, which is narrated by U.S. actor Sidney Poitier.

Greaves also said he would answer questions about the African American experience in general and the progress made in the United States as a result of the civil rights movement. In addition to the Ralph Bunche film, Greaves will bring with him a documentary he made 36 years ago for the United States Information Agency (USIA), entitled "The First World Festival of Negro Arts (1966)," one of several films he made for USIA.

The documentary depicts the 1966 gathering in Dakar, Senegal, of major black artists and intellectuals from the African diaspora. It features performances by leading American artists such as composer Duke Ellington, choreographers Alvin Ailey and Katherine Dunham, and Langston Hughes, whose poetry frames the film, along with many other people of color from around the world, including Afro-Brazilians. ��It was the most popular USIA film in Africa for more than a decade,�� Greaves noted. ��It's a film that tends to raise the consciousness of people from the African diaspora -- in fact, of people of all colors everywhere."

In addition to making documentary films about important African American historical figures such as Ralphe Bunche, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X, Greaves also has produced four feature films, including "Bustin�� Loose," starring Richard Pryor and Cicely Tyson. He observed that he is just as happy making feature films as documentaries, but he is particularly interested in documentaries "because of their role in consciousness-raising and as an advocacy instrument. They also tend to have a longer shelf life."

That is certainly indicated by the continuing success of a short documentary film Greaves made about the Harlem Renaissance, "From These Roots," released in 1974. The film is still being shown in the United States and in other countries. Greaves also was a pioneer of television shows dealing with the black experience. He was executive producer and co-host of a landmark program, "Black Journal," one of the early network television attempts to focus attention on the lives of African Americans. It ran from 1968 to 1976.

Throughout the more than 100-year history of motion pictures in the United States, African Americans have struggled not only to participate on an equal footing, but also to ensure that blacks would be portrayed on screen with dignity and respect. Until the 1940s, African Americans, if they appeared in movies at all, often were forced to play servants, faithful companions or figures of comic relief. "Behind the scenes -- in production -- they were completely absent," Greaves pointed out.

To combat the stereotypical images in Hollywood, a number of blacks established independent film companies, producing what were known at the time as "race movies," films aimed at black audiences that provided African American actors with a wider variety of roles. These movies also portrayed black people in positions of authority and respectability. The most famous of these independent African American filmmakers was Oscar Micheaux, who established his company in 1918.

After World War II ended in 1945, and particularly as the civil rights movement gained strength in the late 1950s and beyond, major Hollywood studios gradually began to make movies that presented more accurate and empathetic reflections of blacks in the United States. Actors such as Poitier, Dee and Harry Belafonte helped change the way that African Americans thought about themselves, and how white Americans perceived them as well.

In the final decades of the last century, African American superstars such as Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson, and African American directors such as Spike Lee and John Singleton, became significant forces in Hollywood -- although they often said that they still faced greater obstacles than their white counterparts.

The Harlem-born Greaves not only has witnessed the changes in the industry during his more than 50 years in the business, but also has been a major force in bringing them about, according to film critics and historians. Film Quarterly has cited him "not only a harbinger of a new era of multicultural filmmaking, but also a pivotal figure in the history of African American cinema." Other publications have echoed that judgment.

Greaves' first major role in movies was as an actor. In 1948, he appeared as part of an all-black cast in "Miracle in Harlem." A year later, he was cast in "The Fight Never Ends," starring the great heavyweight fighter Joe Louis. Greaves joined the Actors Studio, whose membership boasted the likes of Marlon Brando. But because of dissatisfaction with the stereotypical roles he was offered in theater as well as films, Greaves moved into film production -- working in Canada during the 1950s before returning to the United States in the early 1960s, and becoming a major force in cinema verite, a new, more realistic, style of documentary filmmaking.

Today, 40 years later, he is still at it. "Making the film on Ralph Bunche was a tremendous undertaking," he said. There were mountains of texts, photographs and newsreel footage to wade through and hundreds of corporations and foundations to be contacted to secure funding for the film.

What drives this filmmaking legend, besides a need to succeed? "I hope my films are a motivator for positive social and political change," he noted. "As a filmmaker, I am doing my best to raise people's consciousness."

Greaves visit to Brazil in early March is sponsored by the State Department's U.S. Speakers' Program, which sends Americans of accomplishment overseas to talk to interested audiences.