DVD
REVIEW:
HARRY BELAFONTE SING YOUR
SONG
5/27/12
ROver the past half century, hardly a day has gone by when some clever stranger on the street has not called out, “Day-o!” upon recognizing Harry Belafonte, wherever he might be in the world. From his rise to fame as an international calypso star and his experiences touring a segregated country, and his provocative crossover into Hollywood, Belafonte’s groundbreaking career personifies the American civil rights movement and impacted many other social-justice
movements.
SING YOUR SONG, a feature documentary about of the life and times of the beloved singer, actor and activist, releases May 29 on DVD, following a critically acclaimed theatrical run in more than 50 cities and an HBO premiere. In Susanne Rostock’s award-winning documentary, Belafonte is revealed as a tenacious hands-on 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, imprisonment, and the incarceration of youth.
Because of his beliefs, Belafonte drew unwarranted invasions by the FBI into both his personal life and career, which led to years of struggle. But an indomitable sense of optimism motivates his path even today as he continues to ask, “What do we do
now?”
Distilled from more than seventy hours of interviews, eyewitness accounts, movie clips, excerpts from FBI files, news, and archival film footage and stills, SING YOUR SONG features a “who’s who” of personalities associated with Belafonte over the years, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, John F. and Robert F. Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover, Marlon Brando, Nina Simone, Ed Sullivan, Bishop Desmond Tutu, The Muppets, and many, many more. Also featured is a collection of Belafonte’s home movies with footage of his early family life and his children Adrienne, Shari, David and
Gina.
In addition to opening the U.S. Documentary Competition of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, SING YOUR SONG was an official selection at the Berlin Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, SXSW, among many other festivals, and won the 2012 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary. The film premiered theatrically in January 2012. Belafonte’s memoir, My Song, released from Random House, Inc. in October 2011, alongside a companion album, Sing Your Song: The Music, from Sony Masterworks.
VIDEO:
Widescreen
AUDIO:
English
5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
Subtitles
English and Spanish
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Interview
with Harry Belafonte
Full-length
Music Performance
Trailer
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