Once Upon a Time in Harlem won the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize and the $200,000 award that accompanies it, a cash prize timed ahead of a Sept. 29 New York Film Festival screening and a limited theatrical opening on Oct. 16. The win channels substantial support to a project shot in 1972 by William Greaves and completed and restored later by his son, David Greaves.
The film assembles footage from a Duke Ellington townhouse gathering, where Greaves recorded conversations, debates and recollections among as many surviving creators of the Harlem Renaissance as he could locate. Jury members praised the restoration for capturing the movement’s complexities and the ways its cultural influence has traveled across generations.
Ken Burns, who helped select the winner, said, "I was won over from moment the camera started rolling." He also framed the film as a celebration of the Harlem Renaissance and credited William Greaves for curating the moment and David Greaves for completing his father's project.
Acting Librarian of Congress Robert R. Newlen called the film "a revelation," saying it reintroduces a range of personalities and makes the history feel alive in the present while remaining enjoyable to watch. The jury highlighted the film’s capacity to show living icons reflecting on their roles in shaping American culture.
Deborah Riley Draper’s Romare Bearden: A Life in Collage was named runner-up and will receive $50,000. Four other finalists will each be awarded $25,000. The Lavine/Ken Burns Prize, launched in 2019 and supported by Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine through their foundation, funds documentaries that spotlight U.S. history.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem has already screened at Sundance, Cannes, Telluride and Toronto. The winner and the runner-up will be formally recognised at a ceremony in New York with Ken Burns on Oct. 22. The year’s jury included Yoruba Richen, Betsy West, Peter Yost, Tenement Museum president Annie Polland, University of Virginia history professor and filmmaker Claudrena Harold, DOC NYC artistic director Jaie Laplante, Harvard’s Black Film Project executive director Jacqueline Glover, and Rachael Stoeltje, chief of the Library of Congress national audio-visual conservation center.
