Seven Songs For Malcolm X

TX: Channel 4

1993

52 mins, Documentary

Director: John Akomfrah

Producer: Lina Gopaul

Shot in New York, this is a documentary on the life and times of the man now universally labelled as the father of the Black revolution, El Hajj Malik Shabazz, aka Malcolm X. Interviews and stylised reconstructions combine to provide a complex portrait of this innovative Black Leader.

Malcolm X was considered the harbinger of the Black Power movement. Today Black America regards him as the last great black American hero. Who was he? Why does the memory of him linger so strongly after his turbulent life and dramatic death in 1965?

Featuring interviews with filmmaker Spike Lee, Malcolm’s wife Betty Shabazz, novelist Thulani Davis, Malcolm’s prison friend Malcolm Jarvis and cultural critic Greg Tate as well as a dazzling and multi-layered sound track that adds to this compelling and poetic portrait of post war American culture and of one of its most mercurial figures.

Awards and Nominations

  • Best Historical Documentary, National Black Programming Consortium Prized Pieces Awards, Ohio, USA 1993
  • Community Commendation National Black Programming Consortium Prized Pieces Awards, Ohio, USA 1993
  • Certificate of Merit Award – History / Biography, Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago, USA 1993
  • Best Feature Length Non Fiction Film, 1st Film Festival of Black Culture Paris, France 1994