Directed by:
Susanne RostockCast:
Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Diahann Carroll, Tony Bennett, Hillary Clinton, Martin Luther King, Miriam Makeba (a.f.), Buffy Sainte-Marie, Ade (more)Plots(1)
Singer, actor, activist – over the past seventy years Harry Belafonte has had many roles. In fact, the entertainer, who was born in New York in 1927, doesn't even see himself as a singer – at least not when he thinks of the singers that took to the stage in his day. He is an actor, he says, whenever he is asked about his main profession – the best proof of this being the number of people who believe him to be a singer. Easy-going understatement and ebullient friendliness are the salient characteristics of his art. The young Belafonte's greatest role model was singer, actor and left-wing activist Paul Robeson, who once visited Belafonte's dressing room to give him a piece of advice: persuade the audience to sing your song, then they will feel what you feel and share your conviction. His admiration for Robeson, who was persecuted in the USA on account of his left-wing views, but also his friendship with Martin Luther King and the ubiquitous discrimination against Afro Americans in the USA during the 1950s and 1960s to which black celebrities were also subjected, are just some of the things that made Harry Belafonte one of the most popular propagandists of the American civil rights movement. Harry Belafonte is still politically active today, and his criticism of America's foreign and social policies still causes a stir. Susanne Rostock's film follows the personal trajectory of this extraordinary artiste. (Berlinale)
(more)Cast
Harry Belafonte
USA
Best movies:
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Bobby (2006)
The Player (1992)
Sidney Poitier
USA
Best movies:
A Patch of Blue (1965)
To Sir, with Love (1967)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Diahann Carroll
USA
Best movies:
Goodbye Again (1961)
Roots: The Next Generations (1979) (series)
The Split (1968)
Tony Bennett
USA
Best movies:
Analyze This (1999)
Bruce Almighty (2003)
The Scout (1994)
Hillary Clinton
USA
Best movies:
The Concert for New York City (2001) (concert)
Snowden (2016) - a.f.
The Dictator (2012)
Martin Luther King
USA
Best movies:
Dangerous: The Short Films (1993) (video compilation)
JFK (1991)
The Doors (1991) - a.f.
Miriam Makeba (a.f.)
South Africa
Best movies:
Sarafina ! (1992)
Amok (1982)
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Canada
Best movies:
Son of the Morning Star (1991) (TV movie)
The Broken Chain (1993) (TV movie)
Ade
UK
Best movies:
Snatch (2000)
Casino Royale (2006)
The 51st State (2001)
Marge Champion
USA
Best movies:
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
The Party (1968)
The Swimmer (1968)
Tom Smothers
USA
Best movies:
Pandemonium (1982)
Hot Money (1977)
The Informant ! (2009)
Desmond Tutu
South Africa
Best movies:
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013) - a.f.
Mandela and de Klerk (1997) (TV movie) - a.f.
Jock (2011)
Dick Smothers
USA
Best movies:
Casino (1995)
The Informant ! (2009)
Speed Zone! (1989)
Nina Simone (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
Wild Tigers I Have Known (2006) - a.f.
James Baldwin (a.f.)
USA
Gina Belafonte
USA
Best movies:
Tokyo Pop (1988)
Beat Street (1984)
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Dennis Banks
USA
Best movies:
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Thunderheart (1992)
Older Than America (2008)