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In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary—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 one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was 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 concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and more.

Image credit: Criterion Pictures

Did you know?

  • Questlove managed to get the 40 hours of concert footage edited down to two hours by first breaking the footage down to 24 hours. After sitting with that cut for several months, he was then able to whittle it down to three and a half hours before finally excising the last hour and a half. This whole process took a total of five months.
  • What you hear in the concert sequences is the original audio from the Festival. The quality of the filming meant that nothing really needed to be restored.
  • Though the Harlem Cultural Festival became known as the “Black Woodstock,” two of the acts that performed there – Sly and the Family Stone, and the Chambers Brothers – also performed at Woodstock.

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