Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
USA, 2021, Color, PG, 118 min
Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson; starring Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone
In the summer of ‘69, for six consecutive Sundays and a mere 100 miles from Woodstock, the Harlem Cultural Festival hosted an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, fashion and music with headliners like Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, Max Roach, The Staple Singers, and the 5th Dimension. Thompson rescued, edited, and assembled a hitherto lost-to-history cache of festival archival footage that revives a milestone moment.