screening Claude McKay Wanderings of a rebellious poet

Atlanta - Georgia State University

new film CLAUDE MCKAY WANDERINGS OF A REBELLIOUS POET (52’ - 2025) with English subtitles

Q&A with director Matthieu Verdeil

A rebellious voice of the Harlem Renaissance, Jamaican poet Claude McKay spent two decades traveling the world, immersing himself in artistic and political avant-gardes while building an enduring body of work.

From Jamaica to Morocco, via USA, England, Russia and France, this film is a captivating voyage through the 1920s in the footsteps of this great vagabond writer.

This remarkable documentary portrait, illustrated with rare archival footage and photographs, told by his own words narrated by Gaël Faye, and set to a stirring soundtrack, brings his legacy to life. His famous century-old anti-lynching poem If We Must Die resonates with today's Black Lives Matter movement, revealing continuities of struggles and resistance he inspired.