“I believe that a big reason why this ambitious idea of throwing a music festival in Harlem in which somewhere between 70,000 to 90,000 people every weekend would see performances was so that there was something joyous and hopeful for people at that point were kind of at the end of their rope,” Summer of Soul (Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson says about the importance the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival had to a Black America ravaged by violence and assassination.
“It was a healing moment, if you will,” Thompson added during the film’s panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees event. The Roots drummer, bestselling author, musicologist and now Oscar nominee made his feature directorial debut with the feature documentary.
Having premiered at the virtual Sundance Film Festival in 2021, Summer of Soul took home the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the documentary categories in Park City.
“It was a healing moment, if you will,” Thompson added during the film’s panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees event. The Roots drummer, bestselling author, musicologist and now Oscar nominee made his feature directorial debut with the feature documentary.
Having premiered at the virtual Sundance Film Festival in 2021, Summer of Soul took home the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the documentary categories in Park City.
- 3/5/2022
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Academy Award-nominated documentary Summer of Soul is getting a remarkable boost for its Oscar chances – a premiere on network television.
Disney-owned ABC announced it will air the film directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson in primetime on Sunday, February 20. The documentary, about the long-overlooked Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, comes from Disney’s Onyx Collective, Searchlight Pictures and Hulu. Summer of Soul began streaming on Hulu last July, simultaneously with its theatrical release.
“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,” ABC noted in a release. “Over the course of six weeks in summer 1969, just 100 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.
Disney-owned ABC announced it will air the film directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson in primetime on Sunday, February 20. The documentary, about the long-overlooked Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, comes from Disney’s Onyx Collective, Searchlight Pictures and Hulu. Summer of Soul began streaming on Hulu last July, simultaneously with its theatrical release.
“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,” ABC noted in a release. “Over the course of six weeks in summer 1969, just 100 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.
- 2/10/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Timing is everything
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of Soul turns back the clock to 1969 when a series of concerts by Black artists transfixed Harlem. Under different circumstances, the director thinks the film would have turned out very differently.
“What if the same amount of 40 hours of footage winds up in another filmmaker’s hands? What combination could they come up with?” Questlove asks. “I don’t feel like mine is the definitive combination.”
He worked on the documentary amidst dramatic upheaval in America.
“We were dealing with the pandemic that we knew nothing about, happening in real time. Number two, the George Floyd situation really turned up the degrees another notch. And then on top of that, we were in the [2020 presidential] election. Those three things happening really affected our storyline. Basically, the result is the current story that we told. Had...
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of Soul turns back the clock to 1969 when a series of concerts by Black artists transfixed Harlem. Under different circumstances, the director thinks the film would have turned out very differently.
“What if the same amount of 40 hours of footage winds up in another filmmaker’s hands? What combination could they come up with?” Questlove asks. “I don’t feel like mine is the definitive combination.”
He worked on the documentary amidst dramatic upheaval in America.
“We were dealing with the pandemic that we knew nothing about, happening in real time. Number two, the George Floyd situation really turned up the degrees another notch. And then on top of that, we were in the [2020 presidential] election. Those three things happening really affected our storyline. Basically, the result is the current story that we told. Had...
- 1/28/2022
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Ahmir Thompson, better known as Questlove, is the director behind the documentary “Summer of Soul,” which captures an important part of Black history, culture and music.
In 1969, the Harlem Cultural Festival took place, a series of concerts that came to be collectively referred to as a Black Woodstock, except unlike Woodstock, it was nowhere to really be seen. The shows were unknown even to most music cognoscenti until Thompson discovered there were over 40 hours of footage in existence, captured by producer Hal Tulchin.
From footage of Stevie Wonder at a turning point in his career to Mavis Staples duetting with Mahalia Jackson to the golden era of Sly and the Family Stone, the documentary extraordinarily tracks a cultural event while showing the socio-political climate of the time.
Below, Thompson and editor Joshua Pearson discuss how the film came together.
Where did the idea of telling this even begin for you?...
In 1969, the Harlem Cultural Festival took place, a series of concerts that came to be collectively referred to as a Black Woodstock, except unlike Woodstock, it was nowhere to really be seen. The shows were unknown even to most music cognoscenti until Thompson discovered there were over 40 hours of footage in existence, captured by producer Hal Tulchin.
From footage of Stevie Wonder at a turning point in his career to Mavis Staples duetting with Mahalia Jackson to the golden era of Sly and the Family Stone, the documentary extraordinarily tracks a cultural event while showing the socio-political climate of the time.
Below, Thompson and editor Joshua Pearson discuss how the film came together.
Where did the idea of telling this even begin for you?...
- 12/15/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Summer of Soul, the new documentary from Questlove, spotlights 1969’s Harlem Cultural Festival, a series of concerts that entertainer turned promoter Tony Lawrence presented in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park in the summer of 1969. But less than two months after the final Hcf show that August, Lawrence set his eyes on an equally momentous event across the Hudson River: Newark, New Jersey’s “Love Festival.”
According to The Fixers, Julia Rabig’s history of post-war Newark, prominent local organizer Gus Heningburg had reached out to Lawrence to help host, promote,...
According to The Fixers, Julia Rabig’s history of post-war Newark, prominent local organizer Gus Heningburg had reached out to Lawrence to help host, promote,...
- 7/8/2021
- by Jonathan Bernstein
- Rollingstone.com
A version of this review originally ran in January during our coverage of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
If you had walked up to Harlem’s Mount Morris Park, on just about any given Sunday in the summer of 1969, you’d have run in to a crowd. There would be vendors selling food, kids running around, families grilling meat, folks lounging in the sun. You’d hear laughter, and chatter, and the sound of a good time. You’d smell what one resident recalls, decades later, as the combined scent of...
If you had walked up to Harlem’s Mount Morris Park, on just about any given Sunday in the summer of 1969, you’d have run in to a crowd. There would be vendors selling food, kids running around, families grilling meat, folks lounging in the sun. You’d hear laughter, and chatter, and the sound of a good time. You’d smell what one resident recalls, decades later, as the combined scent of...
- 6/25/2021
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Sheffield DocFest runs from June 3-14. There are virtual selections available at their website. This is their opening night film.
by Glenn Dunks
“The Black Woodstock” goes the elevator pitch for Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), a high-spirited documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969. “The Black Woodstock” was also the last-ditch effort of a title given by Hal Tulchin to a film he had made about the festival as he attempted to sell it to distributors and networks that had repeatedly turned it down even in the wake of the Oscar-winning success of Woodstock. Nobody wanted Tulchin’s film, which is a ridiculous idea in hindsight. Of course, it is hardly a surprising one for all the reasons you would expect.
Tulchin passed away in 2017 at age 90 and so never got to see Summer of Soul, the final product that has been directed...
by Glenn Dunks
“The Black Woodstock” goes the elevator pitch for Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), a high-spirited documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969. “The Black Woodstock” was also the last-ditch effort of a title given by Hal Tulchin to a film he had made about the festival as he attempted to sell it to distributors and networks that had repeatedly turned it down even in the wake of the Oscar-winning success of Woodstock. Nobody wanted Tulchin’s film, which is a ridiculous idea in hindsight. Of course, it is hardly a surprising one for all the reasons you would expect.
Tulchin passed away in 2017 at age 90 and so never got to see Summer of Soul, the final product that has been directed...
- 6/9/2021
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
Questlove was skeptical. In early 2019, the Roots’ drummer was approached by two Hollywood producers who claimed to have 45 hours of footage from a long-forgotten music festival in Harlem that had included performances from Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, and more. Questlove, who’s renowned for his encyclopedic knowledge of music history, had never heard of the event. He had, however, become used to fellow crate-digging obsessives trying to one-up him with dubious historical tidbits.
“That’s really what I thought it was,...
“That’s really what I thought it was,...
- 6/1/2021
- by Jonathan Bernstein
- Rollingstone.com
If you had walked up to Harlem’s Mount Morris Park, on just about any given Sunday in the summer of 1969, you’d have run in to a crowd. There would be vendors selling food, kids running around, families grilling meat, folks lounging in the sun. You’d hear laughter, and chatter, and the sound of a good time. You’d smell what one resident recalls, decades later, as the combined scent of “Afro Sheen and chicken” wafting through the air. You’d probably catch someone climbing up on a tree,...
- 1/29/2021
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Premiering tonight at the semi-virtual Sundance Film Festival, Summer Of Soul is both an exhilarating and chastising experience.
Unearthing a cultural sarcophagus of 1969 Black America, the dexterous directorial debut about 1969’s Harlem Cultural Festival by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is full of triumphal performances from some of the greatest musicians of that era and any other.
This is living hidden history that you need to hear and know, as Gladys Knight says in the documentary: “It wasn’t just about the music.”
Completed during the Covid-19 crisis, the nearly two-hour Summer of Soul moves through time and memory with sit-down interviews with people who were in the 300,000 strong crowd or up on-stage. Yet, like a previous Sundance opening night documentary, 2015’s What Happened Miss Simone? (which actually contains about 30-seconds of the 1969 footage), the brutal reality of how much of the oppression and...
Unearthing a cultural sarcophagus of 1969 Black America, the dexterous directorial debut about 1969’s Harlem Cultural Festival by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is full of triumphal performances from some of the greatest musicians of that era and any other.
This is living hidden history that you need to hear and know, as Gladys Knight says in the documentary: “It wasn’t just about the music.”
Completed during the Covid-19 crisis, the nearly two-hour Summer of Soul moves through time and memory with sit-down interviews with people who were in the 300,000 strong crowd or up on-stage. Yet, like a previous Sundance opening night documentary, 2015’s What Happened Miss Simone? (which actually contains about 30-seconds of the 1969 footage), the brutal reality of how much of the oppression and...
- 1/29/2021
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
A pulsating panorama of “Black, beautiful, proud” people, “Summer of Soul,” is . But this one, which marks the directorial debut of The Roots drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, comes with a most unfortunate history: Its film reels were buried in a basement for 50 years, largely unseen, until now.
The “Questlove Jawn,” as it’s introduced in opening credits, covers the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, aka “The Black Woodstock.” The name stuck over the years not only because the concerts coincided with that other big rock festival upstate. The idea for the event flowered from the ashes of the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X, as well as the Civil Rights movement, and was created to celebrate African-American music, culture and politics, and to promote Black pride and unity.
It wasn’t the first time. The initial Harlem Cultural Festival took place in 1967, when a thirtysomething Harlemite singer named...
The “Questlove Jawn,” as it’s introduced in opening credits, covers the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, aka “The Black Woodstock.” The name stuck over the years not only because the concerts coincided with that other big rock festival upstate. The idea for the event flowered from the ashes of the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X, as well as the Civil Rights movement, and was created to celebrate African-American music, culture and politics, and to promote Black pride and unity.
It wasn’t the first time. The initial Harlem Cultural Festival took place in 1967, when a thirtysomething Harlemite singer named...
- 1/29/2021
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Not many people know his name, but half a century ago Tony Lawrence created something extraordinary in the middle of New York City. And few people know the name Hal Tulchin, but he documented the feat. It was called the Harlem Cultural Festival, and over six weekends in the summer of 1969 it showcased more than five dozen acts and drew 300,000 people, who were charged not a cent to see — are you ready? — Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, B.B. King, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Staple Singers, Sly and the ...
- 1/29/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Not many people know his name, but half a century ago Tony Lawrence created something extraordinary in the middle of New York City. And few people know the name Hal Tulchin, but he documented the feat. It was called the Harlem Cultural Festival, and over six weekends in the summer of 1969 it showcased more than five dozen acts and drew 300,000 people, who were charged not a cent to see — are you ready? — Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, B.B. King, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Staple Singers, Sly and the ...
- 1/29/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Ahmir Thompson, better known as Questlove, is set to make his feature directorial debut on the documentary film “Black Woodstock” about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. The film’s producers Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein announced Monday that the film has begun production.
The festival held in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park in 1969 drew 300,000 attendees and was and known locally as the “Black Woodstock,” and yet it received almost no attention from the media in comparison to Woodstock. Even so, the outdoor festival featured performances from luminaries such as Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone, B.B. King, the Staple Singers, the 5th Dimension, David Ruffin, Mahalia Jackson and Gladys Knight and the Pips.
The documentary will be derived from 40 hours of never-before-seen footage shot by TV producer Hal Tulchin, who kept the footage in storage for the past 50 years.
Also Read: 'Woodstock' Film Review: Anniversary Doc Takes Boomers...
The festival held in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park in 1969 drew 300,000 attendees and was and known locally as the “Black Woodstock,” and yet it received almost no attention from the media in comparison to Woodstock. Even so, the outdoor festival featured performances from luminaries such as Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone, B.B. King, the Staple Singers, the 5th Dimension, David Ruffin, Mahalia Jackson and Gladys Knight and the Pips.
The documentary will be derived from 40 hours of never-before-seen footage shot by TV producer Hal Tulchin, who kept the footage in storage for the past 50 years.
Also Read: 'Woodstock' Film Review: Anniversary Doc Takes Boomers...
- 12/2/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson will direct “Black Woodstock,” a feature documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival, Variety has learned.
Held in 1969, the outdoor festival featured performances from some of the leading black musicians of the day — a group of heavy-hitters that includes Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, B.B. King, the 5th Dimension, David Ruffin, Mahalia Jackson, the Staple Singers, and Gladys Knight and the Pips. The festival took place one year after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and was intended to celebrate African American culture and politics, as well as to promote black pride and unity.
It unfolded in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park during the same summer that Woodstock captured the attention of the world. Despite drawing over 300,000 people, the Harlem Cultural Festival received virtually no coverage from mainstream media, a staggering omission that Thompson’s film hopes to rectify. “Black Woodstock” will...
Held in 1969, the outdoor festival featured performances from some of the leading black musicians of the day — a group of heavy-hitters that includes Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, B.B. King, the 5th Dimension, David Ruffin, Mahalia Jackson, the Staple Singers, and Gladys Knight and the Pips. The festival took place one year after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and was intended to celebrate African American culture and politics, as well as to promote black pride and unity.
It unfolded in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park during the same summer that Woodstock captured the attention of the world. Despite drawing over 300,000 people, the Harlem Cultural Festival received virtually no coverage from mainstream media, a staggering omission that Thompson’s film hopes to rectify. “Black Woodstock” will...
- 12/2/2019
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
In October 1969, the writer Raymond Robinson took to the pages of the New York Amsterdam News, the city’s leading black newspaper, to pose a question. That previous summer, Harlem’s Mount Morris Park had hosted a series of free Sunday afternoon concerts, known collectively as the Harlem Cultural Festival, which featured a startling roster of artists including Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King, the Staple Singers, the 5th Dimension, and Gladys Knight and the Pips.
“The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival was, indeed, a meaningful entity,...
“The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival was, indeed, a meaningful entity,...
- 8/9/2019
- by Jonathan Bernstein
- Rollingstone.com
Musicians are natural-born documentary subjects: They say outrageous things, they look fabulous doing it, and they might just let you license their music for free (if they like you). Anyone who rises to rock star level fame is either a tortured soul or a creative genius — or, sometimes, both. The challenge in making a music documentary is to rise above mere hagiography and tell a story most fans have never heard before, which can be tricky when you’re dealing with people as obsessively beloved as Kurt Cobain or Amy Winehouse.
In some cases, the best stories are discovered behind the scenes: the forgotten backup singers, the recluse who discovers his fame decades later, the brother living in the shadows of the rock star. Whether famous or unknown, there is nothing quite as daring as getting on a stage and singing your guts out — and no creative skill as revered...
In some cases, the best stories are discovered behind the scenes: the forgotten backup singers, the recluse who discovers his fame decades later, the brother living in the shadows of the rock star. Whether famous or unknown, there is nothing quite as daring as getting on a stage and singing your guts out — and no creative skill as revered...
- 3/5/2018
- by Jude Dry, Chris O'Falt, Kate Erbland, Steve Greene, Jenna Marotta, Eric Kohn, William Earl, Anne Thompson and Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Why Bloodlight and Bami bucks the cliched trend that’s haunted films about Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse
Related: Grace Jones and giant confetti cannons: the 20 biggest festival moments of 2017
The tragic downfall of a celebrity ingenue: a trusted, market-friendly formula for the big screen, especially where female recording artists are concerned. Documentaries about female stars tend to tread a similar narrative, involving a reductive look at personal histories, where the film-maker is less interested in the idea of accomplished musicians than of girls who supposedly dreamed too big and self-destructed through addiction and failed relationships. With this mythologising, you might say that Amy Winehouse (Asif Kapadia’s Amy), Whitney Houston (Nick Broomfield’s Whitney: Can I Be Me), Nina Simone ( Liz Garbus and Hal Tulchin’s What Happened Miss Simone?) and Janis Joplin (Amy Berg’s Janis: Little Girl Blue) have been made more alike in death than in life.
Related: Grace Jones and giant confetti cannons: the 20 biggest festival moments of 2017
The tragic downfall of a celebrity ingenue: a trusted, market-friendly formula for the big screen, especially where female recording artists are concerned. Documentaries about female stars tend to tread a similar narrative, involving a reductive look at personal histories, where the film-maker is less interested in the idea of accomplished musicians than of girls who supposedly dreamed too big and self-destructed through addiction and failed relationships. With this mythologising, you might say that Amy Winehouse (Asif Kapadia’s Amy), Whitney Houston (Nick Broomfield’s Whitney: Can I Be Me), Nina Simone ( Liz Garbus and Hal Tulchin’s What Happened Miss Simone?) and Janis Joplin (Amy Berg’s Janis: Little Girl Blue) have been made more alike in death than in life.
- 10/21/2017
- by Carmen Gray
- The Guardian - Film News
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