Looking For Langston
The 1989 film Looking for Langston, shot in sumptuous black and white, is a lyrical exploration – and recreation – of the private world of the poet, novelist, playwright, columnist and social activist Langston Hughes (1902–1967) and his fellow Black artists and writers who formed the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. At the time of its making, the film’s director Sir Isaac Julien was part of the Sankofa Film and Video Collective which was set up to promote the development of independent Black filmmaking. He was supported by the film critic and curator Mark Nash, who worked on the original archival and film research. The result is a landmark film in the exploration of artistic expression, the nature of desire and the reciprocity of the gaze which became a key work in what B. Ruby Rich named “New Queer Cinema”. Looking for Langston is also regarded as a touchstone in the field of African American Studies and has been part of the curriculum at North American universities, colleges and art schools for almost 30 years.
details
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Runtime
46 min -
Country
Great Britain -
Year of Presentation
2025 -
Year of Production
1989 -
Director
Isaac Julien -
Cast
Ben Ellison, Matthew Baidoo, John Wilson, Akim Mogaji, Dencil Williams, Guy Burgess, James Dublin, Harry Donaldson -
Production Company
JN Films -
Berlinale Section
Panorama -
Berlinale Category
Feature Film -
Teddy Award Winner
Best Feature Film
pictures from the movie
Biography Isaac Julien
Isaac Julien has forged a critical dialogue on issues of race and sexuality through his work in film, video installation, and photography. Julien, who is based in London, first gained international attention in the 1980s for his provocative feature films, documentaries and experimental video works, which explored black and gay identities. His more recent multi-media installation works extend this inquiry into poetic yet politically charged meditations on representations of race and sexuality.
Isaac Julien was born in 1960 in London. He graduated from St. Martin's School of Art in 1984, where he studied painting and fine art film. He founded the Sankofa Film and Video Collective, and was a founder member of Normal Films in 1999. He received the Semaine de la Critique Prize at Cannes Film Festival, and has received a Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship Award; the Pratt and Whitney Canada Grand Prize; an Andy Warhol Foundation Award; Grand Jury Award, KunstFilmBiennale, Cologne, Germany, and a Ford Foundation Award. He has exhibited at the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Art Pace, San Antonio, Texas; FACT, Film Art & Creative Technology, Liverpool, England; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and Studio Museum of Harlem, New York. His film installations and photographs have been shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Tate Liverpool, England; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; P.S.1 Center for Contemporary Art, New York; Irish Museum of Modern Art, and Helsinki Museum of Contemporary Art. His films have been screened at the Dakar Biennale, Senegal; Jeonju International Film Festival, Korea; Rotterdam Film Festival, The Netherlands; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, and Tate Britain, London, among others.
Isaac Julien lives and works in London.
Filmography Isaac Julien
1983 Who Killed Colin Roach?; short film | 1984 Teritories; short film | 1986 The Passion of Remembrance (Die Leidenschaft der Erinnerung); co-director | 1987 This Is Not an AIDS Advertisement; short film | 1989 Looking for Langston; short film | 1991 Young Soul Rebels | 1993 The Attendant; short film | 1994 The Darker Side of Black; documentary | 1996 Frantz Fanon, Black Skin White Mask; documentary | 2002 BaadAsssss Cinema; documentary | 2008 Derek; documentary | 2010 Better Life | 2013 Playtime | 2015 Stones Against Diamonds | 2019 Lessons of the Hour | 2019 Ghost of Lina Bo Bardi | 2025 Once Again... (Statues Never Die); short film