
Entertainment Weekly
A kind of pure fan's love letter, but still a rich and joyful one to experience secondhand.
Full reviewOscar-winning music documentary directed by Ahmir-Khalib Thompson (AKA Questlove), celebrating 1969's Harlem Cultural Festival, where performers included Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, The 5th Dimension, The Staple Singers, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Sly and the Family Stone and more.
Held during the same summer as Woodstock, the fest celebrated African American music and culture while promoting Black pride and unity, with over 300,000 people attending. So why haven’t we seen this footage before? As well as showcasing the performances, Questlove goes in search of the answer.
LessSly and the Family Stone, a 19-year-old Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone and more wow in previously unseen footage from 1969. 300,000 people were at the Harlem Cultural Festival, but few know about it - until this doco by The Roots’ Questlove.
A kind of pure fan's love letter, but still a rich and joyful one to experience secondhand.
Full reviewStirringly captures the moment when a sea of people in Harlem heard a grand series of voices and said, Yes.
Full reviewThe lack of awareness of this event is another tragic example of black history being ignored. Only this time the record survived, and now we all get to share in it.
Full reviewIt's a sign of a good movie when it makes you think. The documentary will also make you laugh and dance.
Full reviewThompson's subjects speak about the Harlem Cultural Festival as if it were a dream. Summer of Soul brings that dream vibrantly back to life.
Full reviewBearing witness to something, the film seems to say, can sometimes be almost as important as the thing itself.
Full reviewPolitics, music, fashion, history, religion - this is one of those super-smart cultural documentaries that has entry points from all sides.
Full reviewQuestlove revives this electric, never-before-seen, deftly edited footage...
Full reviewSummer of Soul is available to stream in New Zealand now on Google Play and Apple TV and Disney+.
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