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In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends—Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.
At the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only thirty completed pages of his manuscript.
Now, in his incendiary new documentary, master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words and flood of rich archival material. I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for.
 
a film by
Raoul Peck
written by
James Baldwin
with the voice of
Samuel L. Jackson
Edited by
Alexandra Strauss
Archival Research
Marie-Hélène Barbéris
Assisted by
Nolwenn Gouault
Animation and Graphics
Michel Blustein
Director of Photography
Henry Adebonojo
Bill and Turner Ross
Music Composed by
Alexei Aigui
Sound Design
Valérie Le Docte
David Gillain
Produced by
Rémi Grellety
Raoul Peck
Hébert Peck
Coproduced by
Patrick Quinet
Joëlle Bertossa
With the full support and collaboration of the James Baldwin Estate
Gloria Karefa-Smart
Eileen Ahearn
A
Raoul Peck
Film
Consulting Editor
Sam Pollard
Consulting Producer
Audrey Rosenberg
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“A TRANSCENDENT DOCUMENTARY. A meditation on the prophetic brilliance and the very being of James Baldwin. In I Am Not Your Negro, he speaks to us, like a somberly eloquent ghost from the past, and what he says is: The thing we think of as the ‘American racial problem’ is not the American racial problem. It’s a crisis of the American spirit, with race as the excuse. It’s the disease that we must heal, or it will destroy us. To hear that message echo through I Am Not Your Negro is to feel uplifted in the special way that only James Baldwin could uplift you. It’s to feel cleansed, but warned. It’s to feel that the fire is here.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
"One of the best movies you are likely to see this year." - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
“FIVE STARS. A cinematic séance, and one of the best movies about the civil rights era ever made. A striking work of storytelling--I Am Not Your Negro isn’t a special interest title, it is a film.” – Jordan Hoffman, The Guardian
“A THRILLING DOCUMENTARY. Brilliantly edited, I Am Not Your Negro moves across time and space, seamlessly — insistently — sliding from the historical civil rights movement to more recent events. Mr. Peck is a consummate filmmaker who deserves a larger American audience. He’ll get it when I Am Not Your Negro opens.” – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
“AN EXCEPTIONAL DOCUMENTARY” – Kenneth Turan, LA Times
“A fascinating and gorgeous and very powerful film.” – Bob Mondello, NPR
“REMARKABLE. The film treats Baldwin as not only a great writer but an enormously current one, capable of issuing warnings across decades that have yet to be heeded. It’s thrilling to spend this much time simply being in the company of Baldwin's words.” – Linda Holmes, NPR
“An act of provocation, and of prophecy.” – Bilge Ebiri, The Village Voice
“BRILLIANT. Jackson delivers a genuine performance that resurrects the clarity of Baldwin’s voice.” – Eric Kohn, Indiewire
“IT SHOULD BE REQUIRED VIEWING FOR ALL AMERICANS.” – Piers Marchant, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
“Peck combines memoir, analytical polemic and behind them both the restless movement of an intellect fearlessly probing both itself and its situation in the world. I think that if the New York Film Festival had chosen its opening-night selection on artistic merit alone, the slot would have gone to the moral witness of I Am Not Your Negro.” – Stuart Klawans, The Nation
“VIVIDLY INTELLIGENT. A searing and topical indictment of racial prejudice and hatred in America.” – Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter
“A stirring meditation about being black in America. Baldwin’s insights originate from 1979, but they still speak volumes. Jackson gives a sterling, understated performance.” – Tim Grierson, Screen
“One of this year’s finest documentaries.” – Michael Snydel, The Film Stage
“A HAUNTING, EXCEPTIONAL FILM. I Am Not Your Negro left me feeling utterly raw and stripped bare; a witness at last to authentic American history.” – Aramide A. Tinubu, Shadow and Act
“STAGGERING” – Jason Bailey, Flavorwire
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