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
Music documentary directed by Ahmir-Khalib Thompson (AKA Questlove), celebrating the legendary Harlem Cultural Festival with a wealth of previously unseen footage. Held during the same summer as Woodstock and with over 300,000 people in attendance, the fest celebrated African American music and culture while promoting Black pride and unity.
2021Rating: PG, Violence & drug references117 minsUSA
DocumentaryMusicHistorical
Summer of Soul / Reviews
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...
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