Sundance film festival: a once-in-a-lifetime dinner party from 1972 is transformed into a thrilling and inspiring hang-out movie

In August 1972, the experimental film-maker William Greaves convened a once-in-a-lifetime dinner party at Duke Ellington’s townhouse in Harlem. The occasion was a celebration and reconsideration of the Harlem Renaissance, the watershed African American cultural movement of the 1920s. The guest list included its still-living luminaries, some of the 20th century’s most influential – and still underappreciated – musicians, performers, artists, writers, historians and political leaders, all in their sunset years. Over four hours and untold glasses of wine, talk wheeled freely from vivid recollections to consternation, lively anecdotes to contemplations of ongoing struggle. Greaves, by then niche renowned for his innovatively meta documentary Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, lightly directed the conversation but otherwise let the energy flow. He considered it the most important footage he ever recorded.

You could probably release that remarkable footage in full, completely unedited and unstructured, and still have a good documentary; every piece is now, 50 years later – the same distance to us as the Harlem Renaissance was to them – a bridge to a time no living person can remember, each face and gesture informed by decades of aftermath no straightforward nonfiction film on the period could capture. But Once Upon a Time in Harlem, directed by Greaves’s son David, who was one of four cameramen that day, manages to seamlessly clip and contextualize the party into 100 mesmerizing minutes. It’s both a sublime hang-out of a film and a celebration of individual achievements, a fascinating map of a long-ago scene and a referendum on legacy.

Once Upon a Time in Harlem is screening at the Sundance film festival and is seeking distribution

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© Photograph: William Greaves Productions

© Photograph: William Greaves Productions

© Photograph: William Greaves Productions

A viral GoFundMe page claimed Aaron was ‘fighting for his life’

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Catherine O’Hara's iconic moments as beloved Schitt's Creek character Moira Rose are being celebrated following her death aged 71.

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Amazon’s portrait of the first lady has dropped in cinemas, but box office sales are weak. Ellie Muir attended the first showing at her local theater in London and left with more questions than she arrived with

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The death of the 71-year-old actor and comedian leaves behind a long line of unforgettably original comic creations, from Beetlejuice to Schitt’s Creek

• Catherine O’Hara, actor known for Home Alone and Schitt’s Creek, dies aged 71

One of the later and less beloved Christopher Guest comedies featuring his troupe of peerless, often SCTV-related improvisers is For Your Consideration, a medium-funny savaging of Hollywood’s feverish awards-season prestige campaigning.

The film’s unquestionable highlight is Catherine O’Hara, playing an actor who gets a whisper of awards buzz for a schlocky, still-filming drama called Home for Purim, and slowly loses her mind with the knowledge that she could maybe, possibly be recognized by her peers. O’Hara, known for her distinctively brassy yet malleable trill of her voice and her frequently red hair, peels back her performer’s bravado to expose the frenzied need beneath it. She somehow plays the outsized beneath the regular-sized, as her Marilyn Hack goes from plugging-away workhorse to desperate striver. Unsurprisingly, O’Hara briefly generated awards buzz of her own for playing this part; even less surprisingly, an Oscar nomination was not forthcoming. It couldn’t be; otherwise, it might have marred O’Hara’s masterclass in how certain actors, especially those specializing in comedy, are destined to go under-recognized in their lifetimes.

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© Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

© Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

© Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

ICE in Minneapolis, Russian airstrikes in Kyiv, Alex Honnold climbing a Taipei skyscraper and Sabalenka at the Australian Open – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

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© Photograph: Kerem Yücel/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kerem Yücel/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kerem Yücel/AFP/Getty Images

Actor, also known for Beetlejuice and her work with Christopher Guest, died after a brief illness

• Catherine O’Hara managed to make difficult characters utterly delightul

• Catherine O’Hara: a life in pictures

Catherine O’Hara, actor known for Schitt’s Creek, Home Alone and Best in Show, has died at the age of 71.

Her manager confirmed the news to Variety. She died after a brief illness.

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© Photograph: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

© Photograph: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

© Photograph: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Dispiriting, deadly and unrevealing – there is a decent documentary to be made about the former model from Slovenia, but this one is unredeemable

• One adult for the 9.40am in Sittingbourne: a front row seat for Melania’s ominous UK opening
• Eggs, hats and unfettered ambition: what we learned about Melania Trump from her documentary

My audience with Melania is booked for Friday lunchtime at a retail park on the outskirts of Bristol, inside a large cinema which appears to have been swept and emptied in readiness. When Brett Ratner’s contentious, Amazon-backed documentary previewed at the White House last weekend, the guestlist included Mike Tyson, Queen Rania of Jordan and the president himself. Today it’s just me in the room and Melania on the screen. It makes for a more intimate and exclusive affair.

This mood of cosy conviviality extends all the way through the opening credits; at which point the chill descends and the novocaine kicks in, as the film’s star and executive producer proceeds to guide us – with agonising glacial slowness – through the preparations for her husband’s second presidential inauguration. She glides from the fashion fitting to the table setting, and from the “candlelit dinner” to the “starlight ball”, with a face like a fist and a voice of sheet metal. “Candlelight and black tie and my creative vision,” she says, as though listing the ingredients in a cauldron. “As first lady, children will always remain my priority,” she coos, and you can almost picture her coaxing them into her little gingerbread house.

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© Photograph: Amazon MGM Studios

© Photograph: Amazon MGM Studios

© Photograph: Amazon MGM Studios

Queen guitarist says ‘everyone is thinking twice about going there at the moment’ when asked about touring plans

Queen guitarist Brian May has ruled out touring in the US for the foreseeable future, because of the potential danger it would pose.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, the 78-year-old said: “America is a dangerous place at the moment, so you have to take that into account.

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© Photograph: Europa Press News/Europa Press/Getty Images

© Photograph: Europa Press News/Europa Press/Getty Images

© Photograph: Europa Press News/Europa Press/Getty Images

The hottest Olympic merchandise isn't from the Team Canada collection, but a fleece jacket sported by fictional hockey player Shane Hollander in Heated Rivalry. Prime Minister Mark Carney even got in on the action, posing in the original fleece with star Hudson Williams (Hollander) on the red carpet at the Canadian Media Producers Association's annual Prime Time conference in Ottawa on Jan. 29. Read More