Today I saw Summer of Soul (...or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson. It's also streaming on hulu, but I wanted to see it in the theater because it's a concert film and I wanted the full experience. It was wonderful. Drawing from footage of the Harlem Cultural Festival, a series of concerts held over several summer weekends in 1969, the film combines performances by an amazing array of Black artists with interviews with performers and with folks who attended the festival. Additional archival footage is used to provide historical context to the event. The film won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the Sundance Festival. There were forty hours of footage so we can only imagine the incredible performances that could not be included. Highlights for me were Gladys Knight and the Pips, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples, Sly and the Family Stone, a 19-year-old Stevie Wonder playing the drums, interviews and archival footage of Charlayne Hunter-Gault. The images of the audience are one of the best parts of the film.
Great interview with Questlove:
"It's Black joy."
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