Looking for Langston

United Kingdom, 1989. 45 mins. Bfi

Award-winning British filmmaker Isaac Julien's film is both critically acclaimed, and controversial. A lyrical and poetic consideration of the life of revered Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, Julien invokes Hughes as a black gay cultural icon, against an impressionistic, atmospheric setting that parallels a Harlem speakeasy of the 1920s with an 80s London nightclub.

Director: Isaac Julien