Isaac Julien’s ‘breakthrough’ movie focuses on black writer Langston Hughes and Harlem’s Cotton Club to explore the issue of being black and gay from the 1920s to the present day.

Eroticism runs throughout the film; from the scenes of physical intimacy to the inclusion of Robert Mapplethorpe’s explicit photos of black men. And yet it seems the major controversy arose from the film maker’s use of some of Hughes poetry without approval from the Hughes estate. Consequently, at screenings from 1990 onwards, the sound was turned down at the sections where Hughes’ poetry was read!

I believe this issue has now been resolved.