Film

Seven Songs for Malcolm X

1993 · 52m · Documentary

IMDb

5.3

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.

Darrick Harris

Malcolm X

Danny Carter

Malcolm's Man

Martin Boothe

Malcolm's Man

Byron O. Hurlock

Malcolm's Man

Edward George

Malcolm's Man

Tricia Rose

Malcolm's Mother

Theodore L. Cash

Malcolm's Father

Olamide Faison

Young Malcolm

Giancarlo Esposito

Autobiography Reading (voice)

Toni Cade Bambara

Commentary (voice)

Coco Fusco

FBI Files Reading (as Coco Fusco)

Tiffany Nelson

Girl

Tiffany Tate

Girl

Wilfred X

(as Wilfred Little)

Betty Shabazz

Spike Lee

• John AkomfrahDirector · Writer
• Edward GeorgeWriter
• Lina GopaulProducer
• Arthur JafaDirector of Photography
• Trevor MathisonOriginal Music Composer
• Joy ChamberlainEditor

Release date

October 1, 1993

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

52m

Genres

Documentary