The inspirational story of the life and legacy of the late actor, filmmaker and activist, Sidney Poitier, has been told in a new documentary produced by his long-time friend Oprah Winfrey.
In an Australian exclusive, the world-famous talk show host, and producer of Sidney, spoke to the ABC's News Breakfast about her new project.
The film features candid interviews with industry superstars Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Robert Redford, Lenny Kravitz, Barbra Streisand, Spike Lee, to name a few.
Made in close collaboration with the Poitier family, the intimate film documents the inspirational story of a man who grew up in poverty, not knowing running water or electricity, and how he became the pioneer he was.
Throughout his life, he narrowly escaped being killed by the Ku Klux Klan and white policemen, confronted his barely-functional literacy, worked as a dishwasher in New York and went on to triumph on Broadway and become the first black person to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.
The right resources
The film's director, Reginald Hudlin, says Sidney was able to do this because of his upbringing.
"He had the most important resource, his parents, who gave him the courage, the integrity, the respect for education, that drive to become who he was."
"When Reginald and I sat down we said we have one intent … and that is an offering to the world that honours the essence of who Sidney is in such a way that we guard that story and protect that story," Oprah Winfrey tells News Breakfast.
"We're hoping the world will see and appreciate what we have seen."
The documentary features a piece to camera from Sidney himself, filmed before his death in January 2022.
"There was a habit in Hollywood of utilising blacks in the most disrespectful ways. I said, 'I cannot play that'," Sidney says.
Oscar-winning actor with Morgan Freeman praises this in the documentary.
"I don't think Sidney ever played a subservient part. Never bucked his eyes, never ducked his head," he says.
Actor Halle Berry says Poitier's acting "was the first time I'd seen a black man assert his power."
"Yes, I mean, it's an immigrant story. It's a story of oppressed people of colour. It's a story of an artist in search of a way to express himself, says director Reginald Hudlin.
"There's so many on-ramps to connect to this guy, who not only transformed entertainment but transformed society on a global basis."
Oprah meeting her heroes
The film is a passion project for Oprah, who always looked up to Sidney Poitier.
"I mean, who thinks you're gonna grow up and meet your heroes? Most people don't, I didn't."
"I had met Maya Angelou and I had met Quincy Jones. I'm like, 'whoa, what an amazing life I have'."
Then the icing on the cake: she met Sidney at her birthday party hosted by Quincy Jones.
"I walked down the stairs and there he was. My heart stopped."
"He reached out his arms and he said, 'my dear, I have been longing to meet you'."
"And that is exactly how my heart felt about him. I had been longing to meet him since I was 10 years old."
More than a hero
This encounter, according to Oprah, epitomises what Sidney was like to everyone.
"I had never encountered anybody who measured up to my idea of who they were, and then exceeded it beyond my imagination or expectation."
"He is beyond hero status for me."
Oprah says it was never just one moment, or even several circumstances, where he showed himself to be a good and honourable person, "it was in everything that he ever did".
She offers an example of sitting in a restaurant with Sidney when he asked the waiter about his day and his family, and next minute, the man who was just serving them food was sitting at the table telling them about his life.
"I say to people, [it's] hard to go anywhere with them, because it takes a long time.
"Whether it's the guy who's parking the car, or the guy who's putting the food on the table, the guy who cooked. Every single person encountered … he fully saw them."
"I think as human beings, as our offerings to each other, that is the greatest gift you can give anybody, is your full presence."
"I've never spent a moment of time with him where I didn't feel like I was the most valuable person in the world in that moment to him, and he was able to do that for everybody," Oprah says.
What makes a hero?
"You have to say when you see these once in a lifetime, lightning in a bottle type people, what made them?" says director Reginald Hudlin.
"That fundamental question, do the times make the man, does the man make the times?"
"It's a little bit of both," Reginald says.
Sidney premieres Friday, September 23 on Apple TV+
