{"id":149608,"date":"2021-02-01T14:31:35","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T19:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/?p=149608"},"modified":"2021-02-01T14:47:05","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T19:47:05","slug":"sundance-review-summer-of-soul-ahmir-questlove-thompsons-directorial-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/sundance-review-summer-of-soul-ahmir-questlove-thompsons-directorial-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Sundance Review: \u2018Summer of Soul,\u2019 Ahmir \u201cQuestlove\u201d Thompson\u2019s Directorial Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-expand=\"600\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' viewBox%3D'0 0 150 200'%2F%3E\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/summer-of-soul-or-when-the-revolution-could-not-be-televised-director-ahmir-questlove-thompson_50653592426_o-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-149621\" width=\"150\" height=\"200\"\/><figcaption> photo by Michael Baca<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Summer of Soul <\/strong>(\u2026Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), <strong>Ahmir \u201cQuestlove\u201d Thompson\u2019s <\/strong>directorial debut, kicked off the Sundance 2021 Film Festival in the U.S. Documentary category and brought to screen incredible never-before-seen performance footage from the iconic <strong>Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969<\/strong>, dubbed the Black Woodstock. <span style=\"color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Sundance Review: \u2018Summer of Soul,\u2019 Ahmir \u201cQuestlove\u201d Thompson\u2019s Directorial Debut<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the summer of 1969 Harlem New York was struggling. The community was plagued with a growing heroine epidemic and unemployment, while boarded up black and brown-owned businesses lined the avenues, and black and brown sons were dying fighting an unnecessary war in Vietnam. Harlem and its people needed uplifting and music was the answer. That summer, Harlem\u2019s Mount Morris Park hosted an epic concert series known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Harlem_Cultural_Festival\">Harlem Cultural Festival<\/a> and attracted a stunning and unforgettable roster of prolific artists. The festival was filmed, but after it was over, the footage sat in a basement for 50 years. Until now, thanks to legendary musician \u201cQuestlove\u201d producer, DJ, drummer, music historian, and now, director. In &#8216;Summer of Soul,&#8217; Questlove presents a transporting documentary\u2014part concert film, part historical record, which memorializes a significant era of African American music and cultural history with rich, funky 60\u2019s soul, jazz, gospel, blues, and Afro Caribbean music, while showing the perspective of a community brought together by the love and healing power of music made by people who looked like them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-expand=\"600\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' viewBox%3D'0 0 662 372'%2F%3E\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/summer-of-soul-or-when-the-revolution-could-not-be-televised-still-1_50669389853_o-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"A still from Summer Of Soul (Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) by Ahmir &quot;Questlove&quot; Thompson, an official selection of the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-149452\" width=\"662\" height=\"372\"\/><figcaption>photo by Mass Distraction Media<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI knew this film was my destiny, \u2018cause once I saw the footage, I just lit up\u2026 and knew I had to tell this story,\u201d said Questlove about the project. The documentary also includes contemporary interviews with spectators, artists and luminaries who were there, like <strong>Sheila E.<\/strong>, <strong>Gladys Knight<\/strong>, <strong>Jesse Jackson<\/strong> and <strong>Al Sharpton, <\/strong>to assist in telling this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI knew something very, very important was happening in Harlem that day [when we performed]. It wasn\u2019t just about the music. We wanted progress. We wanted <em>our<\/em> people to lift us up,\u201d said Gladys Knight in \u201cSummer of Soul.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The performances shown in the documentary are riveting, flawless and well-shot. I was up dancing and singing along in front of my screen. I got chills watching a 19-year old <strong>Stevie Wonder<\/strong> (who had only 2 hit songs at the time), an up-and-coming Motown group called <strong>Gladys Night and the Pips<\/strong>, a solo <strong>David Ruffin<\/strong>, a soul-rousing impromptu duet from <strong>Mahalia Jackson<\/strong> and <strong>Mavis Staples<\/strong> that had me standing up and testifying, and even a performance by a little known funk band called <strong>Sly and the Family Stone<\/strong> in full costume with white and female band-members, which was unheard of at the time.\u00a0The band initially received a lukewarm response from festival attendees that didn&#8217;t know what to make of their psychedelic r&amp;b approach to music, but it soon became clear that generation had evolved in black music.  In a star-studded line up, legend after legend took the stage, from <strong>Nina Simone<\/strong>, to <strong>Hugh Masekela<\/strong>, <strong>B.B. King<\/strong>, <strong>Abbey Lincoln<\/strong> and<strong> Max Roach<\/strong>, <strong>Mongo Santamaria<\/strong>, <strong>Ray Barretto<\/strong>, <strong>Herbie Mann<\/strong>, <strong>The Fifth Dimension<\/strong>,<strong> The Edwin Hawkins Singers<\/strong> and comedy from <strong>Mom\u2019s Mabley<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Held at the same time as Woodstock, 100 miles away, Harlem\u2019s Cultural Festival was created to celebrate black music and restore black pride, after a series of turbulent years. With more than 300,000 spectators in attendance, the documentary shows viewers a slice of 1969, showcasing not just the music, but the brilliant and flashy colors, style, fashion, hairstyles, and the rich history, culture and feel of that time. If you are a lover of music from the 60s and 70s, you will love this documentary. Watching this was so much fun. Being there in person must have been so incredible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Director: Ahmir &#8220;Questlove&#8221; Thompson<br>Producers: David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent, Joseph Patel<br>Executive producers: Jen Isaacson, Jon Kamen, Dave Sirulnick, Jody Allen, Ruth Johnston, Rocky Collins, Jannat Gargi, Beth Hubbard, Davis Guggenheim, Laurene Powell Jobs, Jeffrey Lurie, Marie Therese Guirgis, David Barse, Ron Eisenberg, Sheila Johnson, Ahmir &#8220;Questlove&#8221; Thompson<br>Director of photography: Shawn Peters<br>Editor: Joshua L. Pearson<br>Sales: Cinetic Media<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>117 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/2021\/01\/sundance-review-passing-starring-tessa-thompson-ruth-negga\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sundance Review: \u2018Passing,\u2019 Starring Tessa Thompson &amp; Ruth Negga<\/a>   <span style=\"color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Sundance Review: \u2018Summer of Soul,\u2019 Ahmir \u201cQuestlove\u201d Thompson\u2019s Directorial Debut<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summer of Soul (\u2026Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Ahmir \u201cQuestlove\u201d Thompson\u2019s directorial debut, kicked off the Sundance 2021 Film Festival in the U.S. Documentary category and brought to screen incredible never-before-seen performance footage from the iconic Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, dubbed the Black Woodstock. Sundance Review: \u2018Summer of Soul,\u2019 Ahmir \u201cQuestlove\u201d [&hellip;] <a class=\"g1-link g1-link-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/sundance-review-summer-of-soul-ahmir-questlove-thompsons-directorial-debut\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":149452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145,16,143,17],"tags":[32250,32189,32249,30995,32252,32246,15768,32245,32242,32243,32248,10671,1767,1937,32244,32247,7323,32188,3816,32063,32205],"reaction":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-149608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-news","9":"category-read","10":"category-reviews","11":"tag-abbey-lincoln","12":"tag-ahmir-questlove-thompson-3","13":"tag-b-b-king","14":"tag-black-documentaries","15":"tag-black-musicians","16":"tag-david-ruffin","17":"tag-gladys-knight","18":"tag-gladys-night-and-the-pips","19":"tag-harlem-cultural-festival-of-1969","20":"tag-harlems-mount-morris-park","21":"tag-hugh-masekela","22":"tag-jesse-jackson","23":"tag-mahalia-jackson","24":"tag-nina-simone","25":"tag-sheila-e","26":"tag-sly-and-the-family-stone","27":"tag-stevie-wonder","28":"tag-summer-of-soul","29":"tag-sundance","30":"tag-sundance-2021","31":"tag-sundance-2021-film-festival"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sundance Review: \u2018Summer of Soul,\u2019 Ahmir \u201cQuestlove\u201d Thompson\u2019s Directorial Debut - blackfilm.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sundance Review: \u2018Summer of Soul\u2019 Ahmir \u201cQuestlove\u201d Thompson\u2019s directorial debut about the iconic Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/sundance-review-summer-of-soul-ahmir-questlove-thompsons-directorial-debut\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sundance Review: \u2018Summer of Soul,\u2019 Ahmir \u201cQuestlove\u201d Thompson\u2019s Directorial Debut\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sundance Review: \u2018Summer of Soul\u2019 Ahmir \u201cQuestlove\u201d Thompson\u2019s directorial debut about the iconic Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/sundance-review-summer-of-soul-ahmir-questlove-thompsons-directorial-debut\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"blackfilm.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/blackfilm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-01T19:31:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-01T19:47:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/summer-of-soul-or-when-the-revolution-could-not-be-televised-still-1_50669389853_o-e1627003589645.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1209\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ellen J. 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