From Fantasia to Fantasyland

Showcasing three short films by American writer James Baldwin, wherein he muses about race, sexuality and civil rights, among other topics, in Istanbul, Paris and Great Britain.

In 1970, a British film crew set out to make a straightforward literary portrait of James Baldwin set in Paris, insisting on setting aside his political activism. Baldwin bristled at their questions, and the result is a fascinating, confrontational, often uncomfortable butting of heads between the filmmakers and their subject, in which the author visits the Bastille and other Parisian landmarks and reflects on revolution, colonialism, and what it means to be a Black expatriate in Europe.

Short film, going behind-the-scenes of shooting for One Plus One (1968) in London, featuring an interview with Godard sitting beside a tree. Many crew members from this shoot were then borrowed by him, playing the press in the film's Eve Democracy sequence. Originally broadcast on the BBC programme 'Release' (30th Nov. '68).

A short film Mike Dibb directed for the BBC in July 1968 in Cowdray Park, where Godard was shooting a sequence with the Rolling Stones for ONE PLUS ONE. It was broadcast on BBC2 within the framework of the arts magazine RELEASE on the 30 November 1968 to coincide with the screening (which has become famous…) of ONE PLUS ONE at the London Film Festival.