festival winner
SUMMER OF SOUL 12A
FILM
OUT NOW CINEMAS 30 JULY DISNEY+
Long-neglected history sings out loudly to today in this rapturous concert movie. In 1969, the same summer as the much-raked-over Woodstock, 300,000-plus people attended the free Harlem Cultural Festival over six weekends. Archived for 50 years, the footage is here reassembled by crate-digging director Ahmir-Khalib ‘Questlove’ Thompson (of The Roots) as a timely snapshot of Black expression, framed within its historical contexts for maximum depth and punch.
Performers recall the joy of witnessing “a sea of Black people”, there to enjoy a mouth-watering line-up of artists honouring Black music’s roots – soul, gospel, R&B, jazz, funk.
