In August 1969, Woodstock drew 400,00+ to Max Yasgur’s dairy farm for a trippy weekend of listening to 32 musical acts. Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Santana, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix were among those who took the stage during what’s since been deemed to be a pivotal moment in music history.
During the same period, a festival featuring Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, and The 5th Dimension was held in Mount Morris Park. That festival – the Harlem Cultural Festival – is the subject of Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s feature film directorial debut, Summer of Soul.
Questlove’s Summer of Love had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, earning the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. Searchlight Pictures will launch the documentary in theaters on July 2, 2021, with a simultaneous release planned on Hulu.
The Plot, Courtesy of Hulu and Searchlight Pictures:
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary—part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was never seen and largely forgotten–until now.
Summer of Soul shines a light on the importance of history to our spiritual well-being and stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past and present.
