Sensing something legendary was about to go down at the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, TV director Hal Tulchin decided to shoot the whole event on spec in the gorgeous summer sun. But nothing came to fruition for decades until, in 2017, just before Tulchin’s death, the producers of Summer of Soul finally came on board and recruited Ahmir Thompson (aka Questlove, the frontman of the Roots) to direct. 

A powerful 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 footage was largely forgotten–until now.

Reviews
"While Mike Wadleigh’s Woodstock and the Maysles’ Gimme Shelter have long been considered definitive documents of the highs and lows of 1969 pop culture, Summer of Soul makes both look like a footnote to the main event: a festival in the heart of Harlem that was somehow written out of the history books". - The Guardian