Claude McKay Wandering the World Film Screening

Claude McKay Wandering the World is a captivating voyage through the 1920s — from Harlem to Marseille, via Jamaica, Russia and Morocco — in the footsteps of Jamaican American writer Claude McKay. A rebellious voice of the Harlem Renaissance, Claude McKay spent two decades traveling the world, immersing himself in artistic and political avant-gardes while building an enduring body of work. This remarkable documentary portrait, illustrated with rare archival footage and photographs, narrated by Gaël Faye, and set to a stirring soundtrack, brings his legacy to life.

Film screening of Claude McKay Wandering the World (52’ – 2025 – english subtitles) followed by a post-screening discussion and Q&A with French director Matthieu Verdeil. This program is organized by the Center for Black Visual Culture and co-sponsored by NYU Institute of French Studies and NYU Department of Social and Cultural Analysis.

For over 20 years, film director and producer Matthieu Verdeil has pursued a distinctive path at the crossroads of history, memory, and artistic creation. He collaborates with contemporary artists such as Abraham Poincheval while dedicating much of his career to rediscovering overlooked figures and movements in cultural history, including Varian Fry and Claude McKay. Verdeil first became interested in McKay in the early 2000s, recognizing him as both a pioneer of the Harlem Renaissance and a forerunner of global Black consciousness. He began extensive archival research, working with U.S. scholars Brent Hayes Edwards and French publisher Renaud Boukh (Héliotropismes). In 2021, Verdeil directed Claude McKay: From Harlem to Marseille, the first documentary devoted to the “vagabond poet.” Combining historical rigor with poetic sensitivity, the film was screened in France, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and beyond. Currently, Verdeil is preparing a new television film dedicated to the Harlem Renaissance, continuing his long-standing commitment to amplifying forgotten or marginalized voices whose legacies continue to shape our present, and to exploring the transatlantic fabric of Black thought.

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Date:  March 25th, 2026

Time:  6:00pm to 8:00pm

Location: Espacio de Culturas
53 Washington Square S, New York, NY 10012