NBA Hall of Famer Grant Hill and veteran industry executive Kimberly Evans Paige have joined the forthcoming documentary Romare Bearden: A Life in Collage as executive producers, as a cut of the film is set to screen at Cannes’ Marché du Film on Friday.
The documentary, directed by Deborah Riley Draper and produced by Emmy winner Jarobi Moorhead, follows Bearden’s journey from North Carolina to the Negro Leagues, World War II, Paris and Harlem. It uses archival footage, collage-inspired visuals and commentary, and features interviews with Denzel Washington, Usher, Mickalene Thomas, Titus Kaphar and Derrick Adams, along with scholars and cultural leaders including Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell, Dr. Elizabeth Alexander and Dr. Lowery Stokes Sims.
Hill said Bearden’s story is foundational to understanding the Black creative tradition, adding that he has spent more than 25 years sharing a collection of Black masters with audiences across the country. He called Bearden a pioneer whose art spoke to shared history and cultural memory, and said backing the film was a natural extension of that mission to preserve, celebrate and elevate Black artists for generations to come. Paige said Bearden’s work captures the complexity, beauty and resilience of Black life in ways that are intimate and expansive, and that the film invites new audiences, especially young people and emerging artists, to see themselves reflected in his vision.
Bearden, one of the most celebrated American artists of the 20th century, is at the center of a film that aims to present a cinematic portrait of his place in American art and culture. The release says the documentary immerses viewers in the people, places and ideas that shaped his vision, including the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, jazz, literature and global modernism, while also showing how his images continue to shape the visual language of Black life worldwide.
The project is a Coffee Bluff Pictures production supported by the Artemis Rising Foundation and KPJR Films. Draper said Bearden’s art captures the beauty, complexity and resilience of Black life, and that through his collages he gave voice to entire generations, merging memory and imagination into a singular vision of what it means to be human and Black in America. She called the film an invitation into his world and a reminder of how urgently that perspective is needed now.
Draper was named one of Variety’s 10 Documakers to Watch in 2016, and the Cannes screening gives the project a high-profile launch as it seeks buyers and festival momentum. The question now is not whether Bearden’s legacy is durable, but how far this film can carry it, from the market in Cannes to the galleries, classrooms and wider audiences the producers say they want to reach.
