By Tom Whitfield

Once Upon a Time in Harlem took five nominations at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards on Tuesday, the strongest showing yet for a documentary that has already run the full festival circuit. The film premiered at Sundance and then screened at Cannes, Telluride, Toronto and New York — the only documentary this year to appear at all of them. Five nominations plus that festival record gives the film a wide base of support as voting bodies start to pay attention.

Who made the film, and from what material?

David Greaves directed; his daughter Liani Greaves produced. The film builds on almost 30 hours of raw footage shot in 1972 by William Greaves — David's father and Liani's grandfather — at a reunion of surviving Harlem Renaissance figures. They gathered for one afternoon at the home of Duke Ellington. David worked as one of the original cameramen on that shoot. The documentary opens theatrically in New York this Friday and in Los Angeles on October 23.

The release pattern matters here. A two-city theatrical run before the Critics Choice vote keeps the film in play through the autumn awards window.

What did the filmmakers say?

On the latest edition of Deadline's Doc Talk podcast, David Greaves recalled his father's intent for the finished film. William wanted it, he said, "to be a theatrical experience that moves at a snappy pace." That instruction shaped the edit: nearly 30 hours of footage cut into a theatrical feature rather than an archival assembly.

Liani Greaves described her grandfather as a Renaissance man himself — actor, sculptor, poet, dancer, songwriter and filmmaker. She also addressed what the reunion footage captures: disagreements among the attendees over how to define the Harlem Renaissance and whether its legacy would continue or fade. The pair spoke on the podcast about the role of women in the movement, a role they said is sometimes overlooked. Some of those women struggled to make their voices heard in the din of the conversation, and the film records those frictions directly.

Liani Greaves also explained why the presence of George Schuyler, whose contrarian politics angered some attendees, triggered strong reactions, and she related one unflattering remark aimed at Schuyler that the filmmakers chose not to include.

Who hosts the podcast episode?

Doc Talk is hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Matt Carey, Deadline's senior documentary editor. It is a production of Deadline and Ridley's Nō Studios. On this episode, Ridley explains why he identified with comments made in the film by Richard Bruce Nugent, one of the Harlem Renaissance figures featured in the documentary. The episode is available on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.

What does this change in the race?

Documentary voting rewards a clear narrative of institutional support, and this film now has one. Sundance premiere, four further festival berths, five Critics Choice Documentary Awards nominations and a theatrical release that began this Friday in New York — each step adds a data point that awards voters can cite. The film's assets are concrete: named ancestors, named festivals, counted nominations, dated openings. Few documentaries this year can match that sequence. The podcast appearance, timed to the theatrical run, extends the campaign's reach at no additional cost to the filmmakers.