With intimacy, style and classic performance clips, Susanne Rostock’s documentary surveys the inspiring life of singer, actor and activist Harry Belafonte. “Personal, candid, historic, and impassioned.” — Reverse Shot
He takes all our struggles and makes them his own.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2011
Sing Your Song 2011
“With remarkable intimacy, visual style, and musical panache, Susanne Rostock’s documentary surveys the inspiring life of singer, actor, and activist Harry Belafonte. From his rise to fame as a singer and his experiences touring a segregated country, to his crossover into Hollywood, Belafonte’s groundbreaking career personifies the American civil rights movement. Rostock reveals Belafonte to be a tenacious activist, who worked intimately with Dr Martin Luther King Jr, mobilized celebrities for social justice, participated in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and took action to counter gang violence, prisons, and youth incarceration. Belafonte’s beliefs elicited unwarranted invasions by the FBI into both his personal life and career, leading to years of struggle with the powers that be.” — Film Society of Lincoln Center
“Produced by Michael Cohl (Pete Seeger: The Power of Song) and Harry’s daughter, Gina Belafonte, Sing Your Song is film hagiography at its very best: personal, candid, historic, and impassioned.” — Damon Smith, Reverse Shot