USA and France / 2015 / 82mins / Biography, Documentary / English

Born in the American South of the late ’30s during segregation, Melvin Edwards is now a world-recognized sculptor. As a black internationalist, Pan-Africanist, and one of the major Modernist innovators in the New York art scene from the days of Abstract Expressionism up through the current Conceptual wave, Edwards is one of the few African-Americans who has a particular strong connection with Africa beyond his origins. Lydie Diakhaté’s film reveals how in Edwards’s work, the global black initiative operates like a vital lifeline in his artistic expression and how exploring different techniques of welding and engaging his cultural and political values he established his own artistic language across five decades.

Lydie Diakhaté

Lydie Diakhaté is an independent film producer and art critic specializing in the arts and cultures of Africa and the African Diaspora. She is the founder of K’a Yelema Productions in Paris and New York and co-founder and director of the Real Life Documentary Festival in Accra, Ghana (2006 - 2011). Some Bright Morning: The Art of Melvin Edwards is her first feature film as a director. Her film production includes the documentaries: Negritude: A Dialogue between Wole Soyinka and Senghor (2015), Edouard Glissant: One World in Relation (2009), Conakry kas (2004), and Bamako Sigi Kan (2003). Learn More