Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993)
The Black Audio Film Collective’s seventh film envisioned the death and life of the African American revolutionary as a seven part study in iconography as narrated by novelist Toni Cade Bambara and actor Giancarlo Espesito. The stylized tableaux vivants that memorialise Malcolm’s life referenced the early 20th century funeral photography of James Van der Zee’s The Harlem Book of the Dead and the elemental static cinematography of Sergei Paradjanov’s The Colour of Pomegranates.
Director: John Akomfrah
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Darrick Harris as Malcolm X |
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Danny Carter as Malcolm's Man |
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Martin Boothe as Malcolm's Man |
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Byron O. Hurlock as Malcolm's Man |
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Edward George as Malcolm's Man |
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Tricia Rose as Malcolm's Mother |
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Theodore L. Cash as Malcolm's Father |
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Olamide Faison as Young Malcolm |
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Giancarlo Esposito as Autobiography Reading (voice) |
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Toni Cade Bambara as Commentary (voice) |
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Coco Fusco as FBI Files Reading (as Coco Fusco) |
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Tiffany Nelson as Girl |
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Tiffany Tate as Girl |
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Wilfred X as (as Wilfred Little) |
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Betty Shabazz as |
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Spike Lee as |
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Greg Tate as |
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Hassan El-Sayeed as |
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Yuri Kochiyama as |
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Thulani Davis as |
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Robin D.G. Kelley as (as Robin Kelley) |
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Patricia Williams as |
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William Kunstler as |
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Benjamin 2X as (as Iman Benjamin Karim) |
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John Henrik Clarke as |
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Peter Goldman as |
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James Farmer as |
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Jan Carew as |
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Malcolm 'Shorty' Jarvis as |
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Peter Bailey as |
| Directing | John Akomfrah | Director |
| Sound | Trevor Mathison | Original Music Composer |
| Writing | Edward George | Writer |
| Editing | Joy Chamberlain | Editor |
| Camera | Arthur Jafa | Director of Photography |
| Production | Lina Gopaul | Producer |
| Writing | John Akomfrah | Writer |
