Film Ireland Podcast

In this episode of The DocArena Podcast, Ross Whitaker talks to Jamila Wignot about her documentary Ailey. Alvin Ailey was a visionary artist who found salvation through dance. Directed by Jamila Wignot, the celebrated documentary is an immersive profile of ground-breaking and influential choreographer Alvin Ailey, founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Ailey captures the brilliant and enigmatic man who, when confronted by a world that refused to embrace him, was determined to build one that would. Ailey is a sensorial, archival-rich story that traces the full contours of this extraordinary artist’s biography and connects his past to our present with an intimate glimpse into the Ailey studios today, where we follow innovative hip-hop choreographer Rennie Harris as he conceives a new dance inspired by Ailey’s life. Using never-before-heard audio interviews recorded in the last year of his life, we experience Ailey’s astonishing journey in his words. Ailey is released in cinemas and on demand from