Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Sometimes a film just sweeps you up, and Summer of Soul does exactly that. The footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival sat in a basement for fifty years, unseen, while Woodstock became the defining image of the era. What Questlove has done here is not just rescue history, but reframe it.

Each performance is edited together with a sense of narrative — Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Mahalia Jackson — all flowing into a story about Black pride, politics, and community. The late ’60s were fraught: assassinations, civil rights battles, the war in Vietnam. Against that backdrop, this festival wasn’t just entertainment; it was resistance, joy, and survival played loud.

And what joy it is. The music is astonishing, the kind that makes you grin just watching people clap along. As a document it’s invaluable; as a film it’s a blast. By the end, you feel like you’ve been to the best party history forgot to invite you to.