Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace
Special guests: Post-screening conversation with producers Alan Elliott and Tirrell D. Whittley and choir members Mary Hall, Esther Mcisaac and Bobby Washington, moderated by Jacqueline Stewart, president and director of the Academy Museum.
Shot in Los Angeles’s New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in the winter of 1972, the Queen of Soul’s breathtaking performance remained unseen for nearly fifty years, though the record would become the best-selling gospel album of all time. Shooting without the clapperboards that would seamlessly sync the soundtrack to the twenty hours of 16mm footage in the edit, the film’s original director, Sydney Pollack, abandoned the project, leaving it untouched for over four decades. Thanks to digital technologies, the sound and image finally came together for this stirring film, released to the public in 2018, three months after Franklin's passing.
REALIZED AND PRODUCED BY: Alan Elliott. WITH: Aretha Franklin, James Cleveland, Alexander Hamilton, Cornell Dupree. 2018. 89 min. USA. Color. English. Rated G. DCP.
Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.
Theater accessibility accommodations available upon request. Learn more about our accessibility initiatives.
Back to Main Series
More in Series
Film Program
Friday, June 23, 2023
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Special guests: Introduction by filmmaker Joseph Patel and producers David Dinerstein and Robert Fyvolent.
Film Program
Saturday, June 24, 202
Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music (Director's Cut)
Special guest: Introduction by the film's associate producer Dale Bell.
Film Program
Friday, August 18, 2023
We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'n Roll
Special guest: Conversation with director Penelope Spheeris.
