Harlem Film
Project

Daniel Balogun • Fall 2021

Poster

Inspired by The Lighthouse (2019)

Scene from the film

Int: The Harlem Guardian newsroom (night)

Text on Screen: Harlem, 1928

Cut To:
April is now 23, charming, meek, and with her glasses still hanging off her nose. The newsroom is small and stuffy, dozens of desks crammed into the space. She scribbles on a bulletin board with a barrage of maps, text, and notes attached. Her boss Benny (30s), dark and handsome, walks up to her. April’s Southern drawl is now gone, replaced with a one that would tell you she’s been in the city for a while.

April
Let me guess. Drinks at West End?

Benny
Dancing at Club Horizon.

April
You already know the answer, Benny.

Benny
What, you don’t like dancing?

April
I don’t think dancing with my boss is a very good idea. And I still got work to do.

Benny
Your Negro exodus story was a hit. Sold out a few stands. What else you working on?

April
The Chicago Defender‘s calling it the Great Negro Migration. And it’s not just a story, it’s a series.

Benny
A series? You’re working too hard on all this, April. You should be celebrating.

April
I am celebrating. By continuing my series.

Benny
How, by staying at work ‘til morning?

April frowns at him, then continues writing on the board.

Benny (cont’d)
You do great work. Better than a lot of my other reporters. You don’t gotta stay late just to impress me.

April
Good thing I’m not trying to impress you, then.

Benny
Well, don’t celebrate here too long. And if you find yourself at Club Horizon later tonight—

April
Goodnight, Benny.
He leaves. A few moments later, the phone rings in the front office. She walks over to it and answers it. Hello?

April
She listens to the speaker for a bit before responding. She hangs her head when she realizes who it is — her fiancé.

April
Yes, I’m still at work…you did call the news room, you know. She listens for a bit more, looking up at the large clock on the wall behind the desk: 9:58 PM.

April (under her breath)
Damn it.

April
Honey, I’m sorry. Work got away from me. Can we go to dinner with your parents another night?

A pause.

April
I know, it’s just that this is really important and — right. Ok. See you. The caller hangs up. April sighs. She looks at the clock again, then walks back to her desk to grab her coat.

Interview with the Cinematographer

How did you feel when you were approached for this film?

I’ve always been interested in the Harlem Renaissance and the photography and art from that period, and it’s been a long hope of mine that a film covering this era would be released — so I jumped onto this project and very much enjoyed by time shooting this movie.

How did you manage to film this movie in a continuous shot?

At first the prospect of doing that was very intimidating, from a technical standpoint. Most — no every film I’ve shot has been filmed traditionally, and something like this hasn’t been tried for a while. But the filming crew and I knew the importance of this to capturing the continuous atmosphere of Harlem at the time, to bring forward just how much of a unique chapter in history this all was, to we looked to movies like Russian Ark and Come and See for inspiration.

The film is notably B&W. What went into this decision and how was it shot?

As I alluded to before, Wes Anderson [the director] and I share a love for the street photography of Harlem — the works of James Van Der Zee and Dawoud Bey come to mind. Van Der Zee captured Harlem at a magical time — and shot it in black and white, so we felt an obligation to do the same as it would better place our audience in the period this movie portrays.