SUMMER OF SOUL is part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just 100 miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was never seen and largely forgotten--until now. SUMMER OF SOUL shines a light on the importance of history to our spiritual well-being and stands as a te... (Full plot summary below)
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SUMMER OF SOUL is part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just 100 miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was never seen and largely forgotten--until now. SUMMER OF SOUL shines a light on the importance of history to our spiritual well-being and stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past and present. The feature includes never-before-seen concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and more.
Leave your thoughts about Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).
| The Observer (UK)Mark KermodeDirector Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s feature debut intertwines music and politics in one of the best concert movies of all time. |
| Washington PostAnn HornadayThe result is something akin to cinematic hypertext, and thanks to Thompson’s steady hand, the brief but deep dives are richly rewarding. |
| VarietyOwen GleibermanIt’s a music documentary like no other, because while it’s a joyful, cataclysmic, and soulfully seductive concert movie, what it’s really about is a key turning point in Black life in America. |
| The PlaylistAndrew CrumpThe genuinely revelatory combined effect of the interviews, concert footage, and pure elation aside, there remains an undercurrent of bristling frustration bubbling beneath the film’s surface. 52 years? That’s how long “Summer of Soul” sat unseen, hidden from the public? If work this important can be squirreled away from view for this long, and if we let our imaginations run wild, then who knows how many other stories lie buried in anonymity, or where. |
| The GuardianJordan HoffmanThe lack of awareness of this event is another tragic example of black history being ignored. Only this time the record survived, and now we all get to share in it. |
| Film ThreatLorry KiktaThompson pulled off an extraordinary feat. He introduced a whole new audience to a very impressive cultural event that could have been entirely forgotten. He also reminds us of where and what conditions we all came from as a country and where we’re headed now. |
| Time OutDave CalhounPolitics, music, fashion, history, religion – this is one of those super-smart cultural documentaries that has entry points from all sides, but one thing’s for sure: this magical, essential event is forgotten no more. |
| CineVueMatthew AndersonOvershadowed at the time and since, Summer of Soul brings the Harlem Cultural Festival and a pivotal point in American history into the light. |
| The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenSummer of Soul is as thoughtful as it is rousing, a welcome shot of adrenaline to kick off not just a film festival but a new year. |
| Boston GlobeTy BurrSummer of Soul captures a moment of the past that was launching itself into the future in a way that feels wholly relevant and inspirational to the present. The movie is a gift. |
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
