Seven Songs for Malcolm X

John Akomfrah
1993-10-01


0
52 min

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.

Cast

Name Character Team
Darrick Harris Malcolm X Unowned
Danny Carter Malcolm's Man Unowned
Martin Boothe Malcolm's Man Unowned
Byron O. Hurlock Malcolm's Man Unowned
Edward George Malcolm's Man Unowned
Tricia Rose Malcolm's Mother Unowned
Theodore L. Cash Malcolm's Father Unowned
Olamide Faison Young Malcolm Unowned
Giancarlo Esposito Autobiography Reading (voice) Zac E. Chan
Toni Cade Bambara Commentary (voice) Unowned
Coco Fusco FBI Files Reading (as Coco Fusco) Unowned
Tiffany Nelson Girl Unowned
Tiffany Tate Girl Unowned
Wilfred X (as Wilfred Little) Unowned
Betty Shabazz Unowned
Spike Lee Unowned
Greg Tate Unowned
Hassan El-Sayeed Unowned
Yuri Kochiyama Unowned
Thulani Davis Unowned
Robin D.G. Kelley (as Robin Kelley) Unowned
Patricia Williams Unowned
William Kunstler Unowned
Benjamin 2X (as Iman Benjamin Karim) Unowned
John Henrik Clarke Unowned
Peter Goldman Unowned
James Farmer Unowned
Jan Carew Unowned
Malcolm 'Shorty' Jarvis Unowned
Peter Bailey Unowned