Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) [2021] - Documentary

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (IMDB) is a two hour documentary covering the Harlem Cultural Festival which was a series of concerts held over six weeks in the summer of 1969 to celebrate Black history, culture, music and fashion. 

It  took place over six Sundays from June to August 1969, in New York's Mount Morris Park. It overlapped with the famous Woodstock festival (15-18 Aug 1969) and was held on the same day as the moon landing (20 Jul 1969).  The footage of the festival, until now, has never been commercially available as it was thought there would not be enough interest in black music. 

The film is directed by Questlove (aka Ahmir Thompson) drummer for The Roots, who is also a professor at New York University where he is an expert on black music history. He was completely unaware of this event until he was presented with 40 hours of footage by two film producers in 2017 who had acquired the tapes from Hal Tuchin who filmed the event.

Artists appearing in the film include: Stevie Wonder. Nina Simone, David Ruffin, Chambers Brothers, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Mahalia Jackson, Fifth Dimension, Sly and Family Stone, Ray Barretto, Olatunji, Hugh Masekela, Edwin Hawkins Singers and BB King

Sly & The Family Stone appeared at both the Harlem Cultural Festival and Woodstock using the Harlem Cultural Festival as a rehearsal for Woodstock. By all accounts Jimi Hendrix, who appeared at Woodstock, was turned down for the Harlem Cultural Festival!

It premiered at The Sundance File Festival on 28 Jan 2021 and got a limited release in US on 25 Jun, with a wider release on 2 Jul. It will be released in UK cinemas today (16 Jul 2021) and will be available on Star and Disney+ from 30 Jul.