Tribeca Enterprise’s Chief Content Officer Paula Weinstein surprised the festival audience tonight with an extended sneak peek at the upcoming documentary Following Harry, featuring powerful words from the late singer, actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte.
Watch the four-minute clip above, which finds Belafonte strategizing on how to keep the movement for social justice alive, even as he ponders whether his tireless efforts from the 1950s onward has managed to change America at all.
The sequence was unveiled as Tribeca hosted its annual Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award event. Jane Fonda received the award from Grammy winner and activist Alicia Keys, a ceremony capped by the footage from Susanne Rostock’s documentary.
Belafonte died in April at the age of 96. Obituaries hailed his dedication to racial equality and his courageous work alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. But as he sat with the filmmaker Rostock, who had made the earlier Belafonte documentary Sing My Song, he expressed doubts about the success of his efforts.
“I’m wrestling right now with how to look back on my life,” he says in the sequence. “And the question is, was that time wasted?” As footage is seen of protests over police killings of unarmed Black people, Belafonte continues, “How come we’ve ended up with this result? What is the mystery of all of this? Why in all the things that could be has it turned out to be this?”
He adds, “These are difficult times to love. We’re afraid of each other. We’re afraid to reach out. We’re afraid to embrace our diversity. We’ve got to overcome this fear and move on to life.”
Following Harry is currently in post production. “Over the last 12 years of his life, Harry Belafonte collaborated with director Susanne Rostock to create a documentary to tell the story of his thoughtful and deliberate mission to transition his knowledge gained through experience to inspire as many artists, activists, and young leaders as possible,” a release noted. “This clip is the prologue to that film and the [Tribeca] audience was incredibly moved by the viewing, and the realization that the final chapter of Harry Belafonte’s life has been captured in such an authentic and powerful form.”
According to the release, “Following Harry shares the lived experience of Harry Belafonte, in the most public of places and the most intimate confines of his private life. The film unfolds like a poem, allowing audiences to experience the effect that the social justice icon has purposefully, and unintentionally, created. From Ferguson to Fruitland Park, and Ossining to Ghana, even in Harry’s kitchen in New York City, the life’s work of this cultural and civil rights icon is explored.”
The film is directed by Susanne Rostock and produced by Frankie Nasso, Susanne Rostock, and Julius R. Nasso. Executive Producers are Harry Belafonte, Pamela Belafonte, Jeff Kranzdorf, and Edward Zeng. The director of photography is Martina Radwan.
Watch the first four minutes of Following Harry above.
Monica has a BA in Journalism and English from the University of Massachusetts and an MS in Journalism and Communications from Quinnipiac University. Monica has worked as a journalist for over 20 years covering all things entertainment. She has covered everything from San Diego Comic-Con, The SAG Awards, Academy Awards, and more. Monica has been published in Variety, Swagger Magazine, Emmy Magazine, CNN, AP, Hidden Remote, and more. For the past 10 years, she has added PR and marketing to her list of talents as the president of Prime Entertainment Publicity, LLC. Monica is ready for anything and is proudly obsessed with pop culture.
