'I Am Not Your Negro': Race Relations from 1960s to Now Explored Via the Words of James Baldwin in New Trailer for Acclaimed Documentary
James Baldwin was one of the Civil Rights era’s most fiercely outspoken voices, a friend of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers — all of whom were assassinated in the 1960s — whose fiery writing on the subject of race made him a controversial firebrand. His prose takes center stage in the new documentary I Am Not Your Negro, and in advance of the film’s upcoming theatrical debut (after an awards-season qualifying run in select markets), it’s now released its bracing first trailer, which you can watch above.
The promo accurately reflects both the anger and mournfulness of director Raoul Peck’s non-fiction effort (it was on my list of 2016’s ten best documentaries for Esquire). With Samuel L. Jackson reading passages from Baldwin’s work in a low, gravely tone that suggests weariness and fury in equal measure, I Am Not Your Negro lays out Baldwin’s thoughts on the historical and present (circa 1960s) oppression of African-Americans at the hands of their white countrymen. Bolstered by video interviews of its subject as well as a wealth of archival material, the resulting film is less a straightforward biopic of Baldwin than an incisive peek inside his mind and at his worldview.
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After its well-received premieres at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival, as well as early-December runs in New York and L.A., I Am Not Your Negro will arrive at theaters across the country on Feb. 3.
‘I Am Not Your Negro’: Watch the previous teaser trailer:
