I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

Writer James Baldwin tells the story of race in modern America with his unfinished novel, Remember This House.

Director:

Raoul Peck

Writers:

James Baldwin (writings), Raoul Peck (scenario)

Stars:

Samuel L. Jackson, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 31 wins & 49 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Samuel L. Jackson	...	Narration (voice)
James Baldwin	...	Self (archive footage)
Martin Luther King	...	Self (archive footage)
Malcolm X	...	Self (archive footage)
Medgar Evers	...	Self (archive footage)
Robert F. Kennedy	...	Self (archive footage)
Harry Belafonte	...	Self (archive footage)
Paul Weiss	...	Self (archive footage)
Dick Cavett	...	Self (archive footage)
H. Rap Brown	...	Self - Black Panther Party (archive footage)
Bob Dylan	...	Self (archive footage)
Leander Perez	...	Self - White Citizens Council (archive footage)
Sidney Poitier	...	Various Roles (archive footage)
Ray Charles	...	Self (archive footage)
Doris Day	...	Various Roles (archive footage)

Storyline

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, "Remember This House." The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished.

---

Plot Keywords:

malcolm x | police brutality | african american | racism | archive footage | 

---

Taglines:

In "Remember This House" Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished -a radical narration about race in America, through the lives and assassinations of three of his friends: Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers and Malcolm X. using only the writer's original words.

---

Genres:

Documentary

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for disturbing violent images, thematic material, language and brief nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is based on James Baldwin's 30-page unfinished manuscript for a novel. In a way, it "finishes" the work by incorporating other interviews and writings by Baldwin, and expanding on the themes through archival footage.

---

Quotes

James Baldwin: To watch the TV screen for any length of time is to learn some really frightening things about the American sense of reality. We are cruelly trapped between what we would like to be and what we actually are. And we cannot possibly become what we would like to be until we are willing to ask ourselves just why the lives we lead on this continent are mainly so empty, so tame, and so ugly. These images are designed not to trouble, but to reassure. They also weaken our ability to deal with the world...

---

Connections

Features The Gong Show (1976)

---

Soundtracks

Black, Brown and White
Written by Big Bill Broonzy (as Big Bill (Williams) Broonzy)
Performed by Big Bill Broonzy (1946)
From the recording "Trouble in Mind", SFW40131
Courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. (p) 2000.

User Reviews

Must see !

This film should be required for every American. It is one of the most important films of our time. It is lyrical, profound, historic and of this moment. And, at the same time it is profoundly intimate. James Baldwin is right here with us, front and center, looking right at us, talking with us, imploring us to consider the urgent questions he raised 50 years ago that are as urgent today. Thank you Raoul Peck. This is a masterpiece. It is as poetic as it is a demand for white people to come to terms with how they have constructed blackness and what, indeed, this means about whiteness. Peck includes one of Baldwin's most famous statements on this in the film: "What white people have to do, is try and find out in their own hearts why it was necessary to have a n*#!er in the first place. Because I'm not a n*#!er. I'm a man, but if you think I'm a n*#!er, it means you need it. . . . If I'm not a n*#!er here and you invented him — you, the white people, invented him — then you've got to find out why. And the future of the country depends on that. Whether or not it's able to ask that question." This is it. Our future depends on it. Baldwin cannot say it more clearly.

Details

Official Sites:

Facebook Instagram

Country:

Switzerland France Belgium USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

17 February 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Remember This House

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$686,378, 5 February 2017

Gross USA:

$7,123,919

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,345,298

Company Credits

Production Co:

ARTE, Independent Lens, RTBF (Télévision belge)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1