By Cameron Lee
September 21, 2026
Photo: William Greaves Productions
Charlotte Film Festival returns to Independent Picture House this week with more than 170 feature-length films, documentaries, and shorts, and among the marquee screenings will be the regional premiere of Once Upon a Time in Harlem, an acclaimed historical documentary that brings viewers inside a rare 1972 gathering of Harlem Renaissance artists, writers, musicians, and intellectuals at Duke Ellington’s home.
Shot on 16mm film by pioneering filmmaker William Greaves, the footage captures a remarkable group of cultural figures reflecting on the movement they helped shape, including Charlotte native and multidisciplinary artist Romare Bearden, one of the most influential Black artists of the 20th century and a significant figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Bearden was renowned for his innovative collages exploring African American life, history, migration, music and culture, and his legacy is, of course, prominent in Charlotte’s arts and cultural landscape, most notably through the Uptown park named in his honor in 2013, near where he lived as a child.
Also featured in the film are Aaron Douglas, one of the defining visual artists of the Harlem Renaissance whose illustrations and murals helped establish the movement’s visual identity; legendary composer and pianist Eubie Blake, who co-created the 1921 Broadway musical Shuffle Along; James Van Der Zee, one of the era’s most important photographers whose work provides an extraordinary visual record of Black life in Harlem; and Arna Bontemps, a key Harlem Renaissance poet, novelist and historian whose work helped preserve and document the movement, among many others.
The film was shot by Greaves in 1972 and completed more than 50 years later by his son, filmmaker David Greaves. Greaves, who passed away in 2014, was one of the most accomplished independent Black filmmakers of his generation, producing more than 200 documentary films throughout his career, receiving more than 70 international film festival awards, and winning an Emmy in 1970 for Black Journal, the groundbreaking public-affairs television series that aired nationally on educational television, which he served as executive producer and on-camera host.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem has already earned significant recognition, including the 2026 Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, which honors outstanding achievement in historical documentary filmmaking. It has also screened at Sundance Film Festival, Cannes, Telluride, and the Toronto International Film Festival to rave reviews and will make its Charlotte premiere on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m., followed by a second screening Saturday at 4:20 p.m., ahead of its national theatrical opening.
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It’s one of more than 170 feature-length films, documentaries and shorts being presented during this year’s Charlotte Film Festival at Independent Picture House.
“A majority of them will be narrative shorts more than any other category,” said Claire Lechtenberg, director of development and marketing at the Independent Picture House, which is owned and operated by the nonprofit Charlotte Film Society.
The Charlotte Film Society took over operations of the Charlotte Film Festival in 2020, and since the festival moved to the Independent Picture House in 2022, has also utilized the neighboring jazz club Eighty Eights, which opened in 2024, for its free Daily Talks, a series of industry and filmmaking conversations. This year’s topics include North Carolina and federal film incentives, documentary funding, animation, turning creative ideas into producible projects, and disability representation in film.
The festival will also feature several notable guests and filmmaker Q&As throughout the week. Following Tuesday’s regional premiere of Once Upon a Time in Harlem, poet, cultural organizer, and scholar Dasan Ahanu; visual artist Juan Logan; and Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist, composer, arranger, and producer Nnenna Freelon will participate in a post-screening conversation moderated by Afeni Grace, cultural strategist and director of the Black Carolina Initiative.
Other notable films screening at the festival include In Memoriam, starring Marc Maron and Lily Gladstone, with Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Rob Burnett appearing following Saturday’s screening; The History of Concrete by John Wilson, best known for his critically acclaimed HBO series How To with John Wilson; Noxturne, the feature directorial debut of Christina Klebe; and the local comedy This Is George & Monty, directed by John Schwert and co-written by Charlotte comedian Jason Alan King.
The Stunt Driver, a biographical action-comedy starring Jay Baruchel, Ed Helms, and Ben Foster, will screen on Wednesday; Truly Naked, directed by Muriel d’Ansembourg, will have its U.S. premiere on Thursday night; and TheyDream, a deeply personal documentary about grief, family, memory, and healing through art that combines multiple mediums, including animation and claymation, by Fayetteville-raised filmmaker William D. Caballero, will screen on Saturday. Caballero’s film also has a Charlotte connection, as he developed the project during a residency at McColl Center and will return for the screening.
“We try to make it as similar to the Independent Picture House general programming as possible,” said Lechtenberg. “We want to use film as a vehicle for conversation and connection.”
De’Angelo Dia, director of education and community engagement at Independent Picture House; Ivana Woodcock, social media and communications manager at Independent Picture House; and Charlotte filmmaker and producer Tim Grant, a member of the Charlotte Film Society board who has directed and produced several documentaries, including Mississippi River Styx, which screened at the 2023 Charlotte Film Festival, were all instrumental in organizing this year’s panels and bringing together filmmakers and industry professionals for the festival’s programming.
Single-screening tickets for the festival start at $15, while five-ticket packs are available for $55 and 10-ticket packs for $95. The festival’s Daily Talks at Eighty Eights are free to attend, and festival-goers will receive discounts at participating local restaurants, including Soul Gastrolounge, Le’s Sandwiches & Cafe, McHale’s Pub, Benny Pennello’s, Cabo Fish Taco, Grey’s Diner, Salud Cerveceria, among many others.
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JUMP Transit, the local, on-demand electric shuttle service, will also make stops at the Independent Picture House throughout the week for those concerned about parking.
Check out the full schedule of films screening at the Charlotte Film Festival at Independent Picture House from September 22-27.
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