Seven Songs for Malcolm X 30 years old

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.

Credits

Seven Songs for Malcolm X Cast

Name Character
Giancarlo Esposito He was 35, now 65 years old as Autobiography Reading (voice)
Spike Lee He was 36, now 67 years old
Patricia Williams
Darrick Harris as Malcolm X
James Farmer
Peter Bailey He was 13, now 44 years old as (as A. Peter Bailey)
Olamide Faison He was 10, now 40 years old as Young Malcolm

Seven Songs for Malcolm X Crew

Name Department
John Akomfrah as Director. He was 36 (now 67) years old Directing
John Akomfrah as Writer. He was 36 (now 67) years old Writing
Seven Songs for Malcolm X poster
Seven Songs for Malcolm X (30 years)

  • Release day: Friday, October 01, 1993
  • Runtime: 52 minutes