FM News
Questlove’s Documentary ‘Summer of Soul’ to Premiere Friday
Ahmir Thompson, a.k.a. Questlove, is bringing the footage of a forgotten music festival in 1969 Harlem to the screen. The film, Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), is centered around footage taken by television director Hal Tulchin throughout a series of summer-Sunday shows in ’69. During this period, Black America was in a vulnerable state following the assassination of Martin Luther King the previous year.
“The festival was a way to offset the pain we all felt after MLK,” Rev. Jesse Jackson told Rolling Stone in 2019. “The artists tried to express the tensions of the time, a fierce pain and a fierce joy.”
The highly-acclaimed, and debut film from Questlove is already making independent waves. Last week’s Sundance Film Festival saw Summer of Soul win both the U.S. Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in the nonfiction category. The feature includes never-before-seen performances by Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Nina Simone and B.B. King, among others.
Tulchin’s footage spent nearly five decades sitting in his basement, and 52 years since the ’69 concerts took place is its public release.
“Not only was the footage forgotten, it was overlooked,” Hal’s daughter, Sasha Tulchin said. “It wasn’t wanted, and then it was forgotten.”
Amidst the present and much-needed cultural movement aimed at social injustice, the release of the film couldn’t come at a better time.
Expect more record-breaking sales and awards for the documentary.
Check out the trailer here.
Be sure to give Renae Richardson’s Will.I.Am story a read right here.
