Ailey

Play trailer

2:07

Ailey

PG-13

2021

1h 22m

Documentary

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

90%

Tomatometer

80 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Alvin Ailey was a trailblazing pioneer who found salvation through dance. AILEY traces the full contours of this brilliant and enigmatic man whose search for the truth in movement resulted in enduring choreography that centers on the Black American experience with grace, strength, and unparalleled beauty. Told through Ailey's own words and featuring evocative archival footage and interviews with those who intimately knew him, director Jamila Wignot weaves together a resonant biography of an elusive visionary.

Watch on Fandango

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

Ailey pays invigorating tribute to its subject's brilliant legacy -- and offers a tantalizing introduction to the rest of a fascinating story.

Read Critics Reviews

Simran Hans

Observer (UK)

01/10/2022

3/5

Ailey's story is interspersed with rehearsal scenes of a new work celebrating the 50th anniversary of the company he founded.

Go to Full Review

Kevin Maher

The Times (UK)

01/07/2022

3/5

This captivating documentary portrait of the choreographer Alvin Ailey, who died in 1989, treads a fine line between loving memorial and unfettered hagiography.

Go to Full Review

Marina Ashioti

Little White Lies

01/07/2022

3/5

Poeticism ebbs and flows throughout Wignot's impressonistic mediation, fluctuating in parts.

Go to Full Review

Carmen Paddock

TAKE ONE Magazine

11/30/2023

AILEY is a loving look at a dance pioneer, meticulously thorough in its content yet never losing the joy, rage, and striving for excellence that characterised Ailey and generations of his disciples... Thoroughly engrossing and historically rich...

Go to Full Review

Sarah Vincent

Cambridge Day

08/16/2023

2/4

The film works best when his collaborators, particularly artistic director Judith Jamison and guest choreographer Bill T. Jones, provide insight into Ailey’s private nature and his lonely artistic sojourn

Go to Full Review

Cody Dericks

Next Best Picture

07/08/2022

8/10

A moving and vibrant look into the life of an artist that is structured in such a way that any viewer can take something meaningful from it.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Margaret H

08/19/2021

Good blend of performances recorded when the ballets were developed, and interviews with people who were part of his compny, and interviews that he did. It reflects Aileys lifetime (segregation, poverty, the AIDS epidemic).

See more

HAYNES

08/18/2021

this is a Moving and Timeless doc

See more

Jill V C

08/13/2021

Delightful and heartbreaking… he was wonderful and is truly missed.

See more

Michal

08/12/2021

Real clips from newsreels and those amazing performances. Unvarnished information about his challenges and illness.

See more

Linda

08/08/2021

There could have been more about how he learned to dance and where.

See more

Steven

08/08/2021

Great film. I do wish they could have gone into greater detail about how Ailey came to create some of greatest works.

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Jamila Wignot

Director

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Actor

Lauren DeFilippo

Producer

Jamila Wignot

Producer

Emily Blavatnik

Executive Producer

Geralyn White Dreyfous

Executive Producer

My Name Is Pauli Murray

94%

84%

My Name Is Pauli Murray

Watchlist

TRAILER

for My Name Is Pauli Murray

Jodorowsky's Dune

97%

89%

Jodorowsky's Dune

Watchlist

The First Monday in May

77%

69%

The First Monday in May

Watchlist

TRAILER

for The First Monday in May

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It

96%

93%

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It

All In: The Fight for Democracy

100%

67%

All In: The Fight for Democracy

Watchlist

TRAILER

for All In: The Fight for Democracy

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Ailey: Trailer 1

2:07

Now Playing

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

Alvin Ailey was a trailblazing pioneer who found salvation through dance. AILEY traces the full contours of this brilliant and enigmatic man whose search for the truth in movement resulted in enduring choreography that centers on the Black American experience with grace, strength, and unparalleled beauty. Told through Ailey's own words and featuring evocative archival footage and interviews with those who intimately knew him, director Jamila Wignot weaves together a resonant biography of an elusive visionary.

Director: Jamila Wignot
Producer: Lauren DeFilippo, Jamila Wignot
Distributor: NEON
Production Co: American Masters Pictures, Black Public Media, Ford Foundation - Just Films, Impact Partners, XTR, Insignia Films, Artemis Rising Foundation, ITVS
Rating: PG-13 (Brief Strong Language)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 23, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 12, 2021
Box Office (Gross USA): $188.6K
Runtime: 1h 22m

Join The Newsletter

Join The Newsletter

Cookie Settings