Entertainment Weekly
A kind of pure fan's love letter, but still a rich and joyful one to experience secondhand.
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Summer of Soul
Oscar-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.
Less2021Rating: PG, Violence & drug references117 minsUSA
DocumentaryMusic
Summer of Soul | Awards
Best Documentary at the 2022 Academy Awards and BAFTAs. Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize winner (in the US Documentary category) at Sundance Film Festival 2021.
Summer of Soul | Reviews
Sly 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.
Variety
Stirringly captures the moment when a sea of people in Harlem heard a grand series of voices and said, Yes.
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The Guardian
The 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.
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Film Threat
It's a sign of a good movie when it makes you think. The documentary will also make you laugh and dance.
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Screen Daily
Thompson's subjects speak about the Harlem Cultural Festival as if it were a dream. Summer of Soul brings that dream vibrantly back to life.
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Slash Film
Bearing witness to something, the film seems to say, can sometimes be almost as important as the thing itself.
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Time Out
Politics, music, fashion, history, religion - this is one of those super-smart cultural documentaries that has entry points from all sides.
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Chicago Reader
Questlove revives this electric, never-before-seen, deftly edited footage...
Full reviewSummer of Soul | Trailers
Summer of Soul | Release Details
Summer of Soul is available to stream in New Zealand now on Google Play and Apple TV and Disney+.