''Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)'' is a 2021 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about the 1969

Harlem Cultural Festival The Harlem Cultural Festival was a series of events, mainly music concerts, held annually in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, between 1967 and 1969 which celebrated African American music and culture and promoted Black pride. The most successful ...

, directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in his directorial debut. It had its world premiere at the

2021 Sundance Film Festival The 2021 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 28 to February 3, 2021. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 15, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Utah, the festival combined in-person screenings at the Ray ...

on January 28, 2021, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the documentary categories. It had a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in the U.S. by

Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century Stu ...

on June 25, 2021, before expanding and being released for streaming on

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

the next weekend. The film received acclaim from critics, with particular praise given to the restoration of the footage used. It won numerous awards, including Best Documentary Feature at the

6th Critics' Choice Documentary Awards The 6th Critics' Choice Documentary Awards were presented on November 14, 2021 at the BRIC in Brooklyn, New York, honoring the finest achievements in documentary filmmaking and non-fiction television. '' Ascension'' and '' Summer of Soul (…Or, ...

, where it won in all six categories in which it was nominated, Best Documentary at the

75th British Academy Film Awards The 75th British Academy Film Awards, also known as the BAFAs (or BAFTAs), were held on 13 March 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2021. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Telev ...

, Best Documentary Feature at the

94th Academy Awards The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Los Angeles. The awards were scheduled after its u ...

, and

Best Music Film The Grammy Award for Best Music Film is an accolade presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally named the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality videos or musical programs. ...

at the

64th Annual Grammy Awards The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, ...

Synopsis

The film examines the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which took place on six Sundays between June 29 and August 24 at Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) in Harlem, using professional footage of the festival that was filmed as it happened, stock news footage, and modern-day interviews with attendees, musicians, and other commentators to provide historical background and social context. Despite its large attendance and performers such as

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

Mahalia Jackson Mahalia Jackson ( ; born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. With a career spanning 40 years, Jackson was integral to t ...

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, ...

The 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American popular music vocal group, whose repertoire includes pop, R&B, soul, jazz, light opera, and Broadway. Formed as the Versatiles in late 1965, the group changed its name to "the 5th Dimension" by 1966. Betwee ...

The Staple Singers The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (April 11, 1934 – February 21 ...

Gladys Knight & the Pips Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B, soul and funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades starting from the early 1950s. Starting out as simpl ...

Mavis Staples Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress, and civil rights activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers (she is the last surviving member of that band). Durin ...

, Blinky Williams,

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1966 to 1983, it was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. Its core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-i ...

, and

The Chambers Brothers The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band, best known for their eleven-minute 1967 psychedelic soul hit "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions wit ...

, the festival is much less well-known in the 21st century than is

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

(which took place on the same weekend as one of the days of the Harlem Cultural Festival), and the filmmakers investigate this, among other topics.

Production

At the request of festival organizer and host Tony Lawrence, television producer Hal Tulchin recorded about 40 hours of footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival on videotape, excerpts from which were packaged as two one-hour TV specials that were broadcast in 1969, one on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

in July, and one on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

in September. The tapes were then placed in a basement, where they sat for the next 50 years. Tulchin attempted to interest broadcasters in the recordings for several years, but had little success, though some of the footage of Nina Simone was eventually used in documentaries about her. Richard Sandomir, "Hal Tulchin, Who Documented a ‘Black Woodstock,’ Dies at 90", ''New York Times'', September 14, 2017
. Retrieved 5 January 2022 In 2004, Joe Lauro, a film archivist at the

Historic Films Archive Historic Films Archive is a stock footage library operating from New York. It owns the rights to an extensive collection of television and film footage dating back to 1895. Its library includes all genres of American Music on film and video an ...

, discovered the existence of the footage and contacted Hal Tulchin, hoping to work on a film about the festival. He digitized and cataloged the footage and, in 2006, entered into a deal with

Robert Gordon Robert Gordon may refer to: Entertainment * Robert Gordon (actor) (1895–1971), silent-film actor * Robert Gordon (director) (1913–1990), American director * Robert Gordon (singer) (1947–2022), American rockabilly singer * Robert Gordon (scr ...

and

Morgan Neville Morgan Neville (born October 10, 1967) is an American film producer, director and writer. His acclaimed film ''20 Feet from Stardom'' won him the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2014 as well as a Grammy Award for Best Music Film. ...

to make the film, but the project never saw the light of day, as Tulchin discontinued his agreement with Lauro. Producer Robert Fyvolent, who had originally sought to work with Lauro, then acquired film and television rights to the footage from Tulchin. Fyvolent began collaborating with producer David Dinerstein in 2016, and together they engaged

RadicalMedia RadicalMedia is an independent global media and communications company. Founded by Jon Kamen and Frank Scherma, the company develops, creates, and produces film, television, advertising, branded content, music videos, live events, design, digita ...

and editor Josh Pearson, and added a third producer, Joseph Patel. Director Ahmir Thompson has expressed surprise that the footage sat for so long, and that he had never heard of the festival before the producers approached him about making the film. Discussing its obscurity, he said: "What would have happened if this was allowed a seat at the table? How much of a difference would that have made in my life? That was the moment that extinguished any doubt I had that I could do this."

Release

The film premiered on January 28, 2021, at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the US Documentary Competition. It was acquired by

and

, and was released in the United States at the

El Capitan Theatre El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple (now known as the El Capitan Entertainment Centre) is owned by The Walt Disney Company and serves as th ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and the

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...

Harlem 9 multiplex in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on June 25, 2021, before expanding nationwide and being released for streaming on Hulu the next weekend. The film was set to be distributed internationally in theaters and on

Disney+ Hotstar The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

on July 30, 2021, and on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

and

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on November 19, 2021, and was made available on the U.S. version of Disney+ on February 8, 2022, in time for

Black History Month Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, and more recently ...

. It made its broadcast television premiere on

on February 20, 2022. On February 8, 2022,

20th Century Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

released a hard copy on Standard Definition DVD. In a bonus feature interview, Thompson mused about expanding the film with the wealth of material he had to cut for time. On April 22, 2021, it was announced that Thompson would introduce the first trailer for the film during the

93rd Academy Awards The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 2021 ...

, for which he served as music director. The trailer debuted on April 25, 2021.

Reception

Box office

''Summer of Soul'' grossed $2.3 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $1.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $3.7 million. In the film's first weekend in wide release, it grossed $650,000 from 752 theaters (for a per-venue average of $865).

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 99% (based on 206 reviews), with an average rating of 9.1/10; the website's critics consensus reads: "Deftly interweaving incredible live footage with a series of revealing interviews, ''Summer of Soul'' captures the spirit and context of a watershed moment while tying it firmly to the present." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 96 out of 100 (based on 38 critics), indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a rare "A+" average grade. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' praised the film as "the Perfect Movie to Kick Off Sundance 2021" and said it was "an incredible, vital act of restoration—and reclamation". ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave it five stars, writing that there is "a moment so striking and rich with power at the center of Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson's ''Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)'' that, while watching it, I actually forgot to breathe." British critic

Mark Kermode Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine ''Sight & Sound'', prese ...

called the film "the best music documentary I've ever seen" in his review for

Kermode and Mayo's Film Review Kermode is a surname of Manx origin. It may refer to: I Surname * Robert Kermode (1812–1870), Tasmanian politician * P. M. C. Kermode (Philip Moore Callow Kermode, 1855–1932), Manx antiquarian and historian * Alexander Kermode (1876–1934) ...

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

On January 21, 2022,

Legacy Records In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property. Legacy or legacies may refer ...

released an official

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

. In an interview, Thompson said he considered including songs not in the film, but decided to stick with the music that had already been cleared for release. The digital version of the soundtrack contains 17 songs, while the physical version contains 16, as it does not feature Abbey Lincoln's and Max Roach's performance of "Africa".

Home media

On February 8, 2022, the film was released on Standard Definition DVD by

. Bonus features include audio commentary by Thompson, who muses about reediting a longer version that would include footage he had to cut for time, and two behind-the-scenes featurettes ("Soul Searching" and "Harlem: Then & Now").

References

External links

''For Questlove, The Pandemic Meant Embracing Quiet — And Buying A Farm''
July 21, 2021 radio interview with

Terry Gross Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of ''Fresh Air'', an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NPR i ...

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 6 ...

* * *
''Summer of Soul'' on MUBI
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