At the request of festival organizer and host Tony Lawrence, television producer Hal Tulchin recorded about 40 hours of footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival on videotape, excerpts from which were packaged as two one-hour TV specials that were broadcast in 1969, one on CBS in July, and one on ABC in September. The tapes were then placed in a basement, where they sat for the next 50 years. Tulchin attempted to interest broadcasters in the recordings for several years, but had little success, though some of the footage of Nina Simone was eventually used in documentaries about her.
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Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
(2021)Country | |
Runtime | 1 hr 58 min |
Premiere: World | $3 696 069 June 24, 2021 |
USA | $2 320 649 |
Other countries | $1 375 420 |
Premiere: USA | $2 320 649 June 2021 |
first weekend | $802 054 |
theaters | 752 |
rollout | 190 days |
Digital: World | February 8, 2022 |
Parental Advisory | Frightening & Intense Scenes, Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking |
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Production Companies | |
Also Known As | Summer of Soul (United States) |
Description
Documentary about the legendary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival which celebrated African-American music and culture and promoted Black pride and unity.Сast and Crew
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Critique: 51
The incendiary stars of the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 erupt into life in this extraordinary documentary culled from comprehensive foota...
Watch it for everything that it is, a kind of miraculously unearthed treasure trove of music and politics and culture and soul. So much soul.
Sonically flawless, authentically textured and deep-rooted in cultural significance, Summer Of Soul succeeds magnificently in capturing the scale...
With this bold and imaginative restoration, Summer of Soul puts the marginalisation of black culture at the core of the story.
There is so much beauty in this film, in detail in the outfits of the attendees, the composition of the interviews and in the tightly constructed c...
Summer of Soul illuminates the role music and fashion play in our lives; how they reflect change and nudge it along in an endless cycle.
Summer of Soul is both a tribute to the artists and, just as importantly, their audience – which is what makes it not just a great concer...
Though the performances are riveting, it’s the shots of the all-ages crowd that makes this film come alive, with the vibrant fashions, the in...
As with the best films, Questlove’s narrative is shrouded in mystery, while leaving an emotional resonance that won’t be soon forgotten.
As a historical document, "Summer of Soul" is stunning; as a documentary, it has some bumps. But the music is always there to take you home.
Whether it’s consumed on a big screen or a small one, Summer of Soul earns a place near the top of that menu.
Questlove has shaped "Summer of Soul" into a testament to Black excellence, artistry and perseverance.
Its existence is a testament to Hal Tulchin, to whom the film is dedicated, and to Questlove, who has pulled it all together with immense love...
In either case, as a disappeared archive now rightfully platformed, the historic moments that we are finally given access to are absolutely me...
Thompson’s feature debut intertwines music and politics in one of the best concert movies of all time.
Both an acting showcase from some of the finest actors working today and a necessary reckoning with the past, Judas and the Black Messiah is w...
Flee won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, and no wonder: It’s heartbreaking and moving, and hard to forget.
The documentary is a window into the Harlem Culture Festival and discussions of Black history, community and identity in the 60s.
"Get Out" alums Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield magnetically reteam for Shaka King’s potent true story…
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson unearths many dynamite performances from the festival-exhilarating moments that are often interrupted by talking heads f...
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 ge...
A witty, sweetly told drama about a hearing 17-year-old girl in a deaf Massachusetts fishing family.
There is something so spiritual, uplifting and motivating about watching 300,000 black folks, over the course of a summer, gathered aroun...
Despite being a first feature, Summer of Soul concisely balances performance, interview, and history in its own rhythmic fashion.
This is 2.5 hours and it is more soapy than ever… This feels not as fun or light.
Questlove’s Summer of Soul is as much an essential music documentary as it is a public service.
The setup has potential, with trapped miners needing saving but icy roads making rescue efforts difficult. But it hits the skids and ends up formul...
You can come for the music and stay for the politics, or vice versa; either way, it’s a vibrant document of an inspiring event that never los...
This is Jones' film and she gives one of those young performances that feel like a pronouncement of someone who will be around for years.
"Summer of Soul" stirringly captures the moment when a sea of people in Harlem heard a grand series of voices and said, Yes.
One of the best things about Summer of Soul is its reminder that the joy of musical community is one of the great human experiences, a unifying tru...
Bonus points for a regally menacing extended cameo by the great actor-director Bill Duke, who barely has to move (or speak) to impose his will...
The movie, edited by Joshua Pearson, should take its rightful place among such classic live performance documentaries as Woodstock, Amazing Grace...
The result, maybe unsurprisingly, is a kind of pure fan’s love letter, but still a rich and joyful one to experience secondhand.
Seething through the entire documentary, against the backdrop of a racially turbulent 1960s, is an insistence on a new kind of racial pri...
This is a knockout of a movie featuring precious performance footage that hasn’t been seen since 1969. Ahmir Thompson has taken great raw mat...
All of these acts are extraordinary. But the real miracle of Summer of Soul is the audience, vast and varied and nearly all Black…
Some of the performances are breathtaking, and all of them are valuable, like the political and social context that surrounds them.
If Questlove was merely a very good curator… then Summer of Soul would be a worthwhile experience. The fact that he’s both a very good c...
Among the skills required of any documentarian is a croupier’s cunning, and you have to be quick to notice the way in which Thompson, ho...
Questlove/Thompson skillfully blends the archival footage to blend the recollections of those who were there with historical context and contempora...
The footage was shot by producer Hal Tulchin and amassed to about 40 hours in total, but sat dormant for decades… So by resurrecting the...
[Thompson’s] respect and enthusiasm for the material jumps off the screen.
Thompson’s subjects speak about the Harlem Cultural Festival as if it were a dream. Summer of Soul brings that dream vibrantly back to l...
Summer of Soul is as thoughtful as it is rousing, a welcome shot of adrenaline to kick off not just a film festival but a new year.
"Summer of Soul" captures a moment of the past that was launching itself into the future in a way that feels wholly relevant and inspirational to t...
The images, the music, the news, the reminiscences, the commentary often come at you at once. And with another director what you’d be left wi...
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