Turkish filmmaker and photographer Sedat Pakay designs an intimate, luminous sketch of Baldwin during a stay in Istanbul. As he leisurely moves about the comforts of his room to the activity of the city and its curious denizens, Baldwin expounds on his privacy, his sexuality and his expat tendencies—explaining that he writes more easily about the US when he is away from it. Heightened by Linda and Sonny Sharrock’s transcendent soundtrack, the film is a beautiful glimpse of a vibrant, conscientious man with a mind that seems always active, contemplative and open. “I don’t really know what I am politically speaking,” he notes. “I don’t consider myself to be a leader; I consider myself to be a kind of witness …”
Preserved by the Yale Film Archive with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation.
LOCATION:Harvard Film Archive, Carpenter Center STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20231022T230000Z DTEND:20231022T230000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR