Event · Hudson Square
William Greaves 100 at Film Forum, NYC: A Centennial Week of the Black Filmmaker's Work
Film Forum in New York marks the centennial of actor and documentarian William Greaves with a one-week retrospective, October 23–29. It spans his acting roles, documentaries and the avant-garde Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, with several new 4K restorations. Tickets are $18, or $12 for members.
By NBT Editors · 2026-10-23
Film Forum is giving William Greaves a centennial week. "William Greaves 100" runs Friday, October 23 through Thursday, October 29 at the Houston Street cinema, curated by Ina Archer. Greaves (1926–2014) worked as an actor, documentarian and avant-garde filmmaker. The program covers his early acting appearances and feature films across documentary, narrative and hybrid forms, and several titles are new 4K restorations.
Over fifty-two years Greaves produced, wrote, directed, shot and edited a large body of work about the Black experience. He has said he moved from acting to production because he was infuriated by the racially degrading stereotypes white producers put on American screens. In his view, unless Black people made their own information for film and television, the "Black image" would always be distorted. Film historian Donald Bogle, a friend of Greaves, calls him a consummate documentary filmmaker who was insightful, probing and forever provocative.
Opening night starts with a rare 35mm screening of Lost Boundaries at 5:50 p.m. It stars a 23-year-old Greaves and is followed by a conversation with Bogle and Film Forum's Bruce Goldstein. At 8:50 p.m. comes Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, introduced by Liani Greaves, vice president of William Greaves Productions. It returns on October 25, 27 and 29. Earlier that day, Nationtime screens at 2:00 p.m. with introductions from Liani Greaves and IndieCollect founder Sandra Schulberg.
The rest of the week includes From These Roots paired with Black Power in America: Myth… or Reality?, Still a Brother: Inside the Negro Middle Class, Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey, Frederick Douglass: An American Life, Miracle in Harlem, Souls of Sin and Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2½. On October 29, Film Forum also shows The Harder They Come at 8:20 p.m., introduced by Ashley Clark, with a book signing.
Tickets are $18 general and $12 for members. Film Forum is at 209 West Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue. The theater premiered Once Upon a Time in Harlem, a previously unseen film by William and David Greaves, on October 16.
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