Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Questlove
Produced by	David Dinerstein Robert Fyvolent Joseph Patel
Cinematography	Shawn Peters
Edited by	Joshua L. Pearson
Production companies	Onyx Collective Concordia Studio Play/Action Pictures LarryBilly Productions Mass Distraction Media RadicalMedia Vulcan Productions
Distributed by	Searchlight Pictures Hulu
Release dates	January 28, 2021 (2021-01-28) (Sundance) June 25, 2021 (2021-06-25) (United States)
Running time	117 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$3.7 million[1][2]

Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) is a 2021 Americanindependent^[3][4]documentary film about the 1969Harlem Cultural Festival, directed byAhmir "Questlove" Thompson in his directorial debut.^[5][6] It had its world premiere at the2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 28, 2021, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the documentary categories. It had alimited theatrical release in the U.S. bySearchlight Pictures on June 25, 2021, before expanding and being released for streaming onHulu the next weekend.

The second half of the movie's title is taken from the 1970 poem and song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", written byGil Scott-Heron. It offered a sharp and satirical critique of the media's lack of coverage ofcivil rights activism and the reality of change and revolution taking place in the streets and on campuses across America.

The film received acclaim from critics, with particular praise given to the restoration of the footage used. It won numerous awards, includingBest Documentary Feature at the6th Critics' Choice Documentary Awards, where it won in all six categories in which it was nominated,Best Documentary at the75th British Academy Film Awards,Best Documentary Feature at the94th Academy Awards,^[7][8] andBest Music Film at the64th Annual Grammy Awards. It has been consideredone of the best films of the 21st century.^[9][10]

The film examines the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which took place on six Sundays between June 29 and August 24 atMount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) inHarlem, using professional footage of the festival that was filmed as it happened,stock news footage, and modern-day interviews with attendees, musicians, and other commentators to provide historical background and social context. Despite its large attendance and performers such asStevie Wonder,Mahalia Jackson,Max Roach,Nina Simone,The 5th Dimension,The Staple Singers,Gladys Knight & the Pips,Mavis Staples,Blinky Williams,Sly and the Family Stone, andthe Chambers Brothers, the festival is much less well known in the 21st century than isWoodstock (which took place on the same weekend as one of the days of the Harlem Cultural Festival). The filmmakers investigate this, among other topics.

At the request of festival organizer and hostTony Lawrence, television producerHal Tulchin recorded about 40 hours of footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival on videotape,^[11] excerpts from which were packaged as two one-hour TV specials that were broadcast in 1969, one onCBS in July, and one onABC in September.^[12] The tapes were then placed in a basement,^[13] where they sat for the next 50 years.^[14] 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.^[15]

In 2004,Joe Lauro, a film archivist at theHistoric Films Archive, discovered the existence of the footage and contacted Hal Tulchin, hoping to work on a film about the festival. He digitized and cataloged the footage^[16] and, in 2006, entered into a deal withRobert Gordon andMorgan Neville to make the film,^[11] but the project never saw the light of day, as Tulchin discontinued his agreement with Lauro.^[16] Producer Robert Fyvolent, who had originally sought to work with Lauro, then acquired film and television rights to the footage from Tulchin.^[15][17] Fyvolent began collaborating with producer David Dinerstein in 2016, and together they engagedRadicalMedia and editor Josh Pearson, and added a third producer,Joseph Patel.^[18]

Director Ahmir Thompson has expressed surprise that the footage sat for so long, and that he had never heard of the festival before the producers approached him about making the film.^[19] Discussing its obscurity, he said: "What would have happened if this was allowed a seat at the table? How much of a difference would that have made in my life? That was the moment that extinguished any doubt I had that I could do this."^[20]

The film premiered on January 28, 2021, at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the US Documentary Competition.^[21] It was acquired bySearchlight Pictures andHulu, and was released in the United States at theEl Capitan Theatre inLos Angeles and theAMCMagic Johnson Harlem 9 multiplex inNew York City on June 25, 2021, before expanding nationwide and being released for streaming on Hulu the next weekend.^[22] The film was distributed internationally in theaters and onDisney+ Hotstar on July 30, 2021, and onDisney+ andStar+ on November 19, 2021,^[23][24] and was made available on the U.S. version of Disney+ on February 8, 2022, in time forBlack History Month.^[25] It made its broadcast television premiere onABC on February 20, 2022.^[26] On February 8, 2022,20th Century Studios released a hard copy on Standard Definition DVD. In a bonus feature interview, Thompson mused about expanding the film with the wealth of material he had to cut for time.

On April 22, 2021, it was announced that Thompson would introduce the first trailer for the film during the93rd Academy Awards, for which he served as music director. The trailer debuted on April 25, 2021.^[27]

Summer of Soul grossed $2.3 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $1.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $3.7 million.^[1]

In the film's first weekend in wide release, it grossed $650,000 from 752 theaters (for a per-venue average of $865).^[28]

OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 99% (based on 222 reviews), with an average rating of 9.1/10; the website's critics consensus reads: "Deftly interweaving incredible live footage with a series of revealing interviews,Summer of Soul captures the spirit and context of a watershed moment while tying it firmly to the present."^[29] OnMetacritic, the film has aweighted average score of 96 out of 100 (based on 38 critics), indicating "universal acclaim".^[30] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" average grade.^[28]

Rolling Stone praised the film as "the Perfect Movie to Kick Off Sundance 2021" and said it was "an incredible, vital act of restoration—and reclamation".^[31]The Guardian gave it five stars, writing that there is "a moment so striking and rich with power at the center of Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson'sSummer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) that, while watching it, I actually forgot to breathe."^[32]

British criticMark Kermode called the film "the best music documentary I've ever seen" in his review forKermode and Mayo's Film Review onBBC Radio 5 Live.^[33]

In 2024,Looper ranked it number 3 on its list of the "50 Best PG-13 Movies of All Time," writing "The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival was a milestone event that featured countless Black artists performing music from all genres, but for decades, it faded into obscurity. Fortunately, director Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's documentary,Summer of Soul, reaffirms the existence, presence, and joy of this seemingly forgotten moment with restored archival footage of the performances that comprised this event."^[34]

On January 21, 2022,Legacy Records released an officialsoundtrack album.^[70] In an interview, Thompson said he considered including songs not in the film, but decided to stick with the music that had already been cleared for release.^[71] The digital version of the soundtrack contains 17 songs, while the physical version contains 16, as it does not featureAbbey Lincoln's andMax Roach's performance of "Africa".

On February 8, 2022,20th Century Studios released the film on Standard Definition DVD. Bonus features include audio commentary by Thompson, who muses about re-editing a longer version that would include footage he had to cut for time, and two behind-the-scenes featurettes ("Soul Searching" and "Harlem: Then & Now").^[72]

• Monterey Pop (1968)
• Gimme Shelter (1970)
• Festival (1967)

• "Parks and Recreation: Harlem at a Crossroads in the Summer of '69".Poverty & Race. Poverty and Race Research Action Council. June 2017.

• "For Questlove, The Pandemic Meant Embracing Quiet — and Buying a Farm" July 21, 2021 radio interview withTerry Gross onFresh Air
• Summer of Soul atIMDb 
• Summer of Soul atRotten Tomatoes

• 2021 films
• 2021 directorial debut films
• 2021 documentary films
• 2021 independent films
• 2020s American films
• 2020s English-language films
• American collage films
• American documentary films
• Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners
• Documentary films about African Americans
• Documentary films about music festivals
• Documentary films about New York City
• English-language documentary films
• English-language independent films
• Films set in 1969
• Films set in the 1960s
• Grammy Award for Best Music Film winners
• Harlem Cultural Festival
• Hulu original films
• Peabody Award–winning broadcasts
• Satellite Award–winning films
• Searchlight Pictures films
• Sundance Film Festival award–winning films

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