Trailer:
https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2988163097?playlistId=nm0005567&ref_=vp_rv_ap_0
Film Review by Marlene Ardoin
The Harlem Cultural Festival (also known as Black Woodstock) took place in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park on Sundays at 3 PM from June 29 to August 24, 1969. The series of six free concerts had a combined attendance of nearly 300,000. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) refused to provide security, and it was instead provided by members of the Black Panther Party.[3]
Woodstock was a music festival held August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur‘s dairy farm in Bethel, New York. It attracted an audience of more than 400,000. Thirty-two acts performed outdoors despite sporadic rain.
Both festivals signaled a seismic cultural shift in the United States.
One could argue that the long hair and naked bodies of Woodstock were more important than Afros and Black pride, but the important point was that whatever was happening, it was happening during the same time period.
The Harlem Cultural Festival was not just Black talent, but every kind of immigrant inhabitant, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominican Republicans, Mexicans, Jamaicans, etc.
The Harlem Cultural Festival sponsors included Maxwell House Coffee, and the Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs Division of the City of New York. In addition, money was raised to film the musical acts, which ended up in a box in a basement, until now.
I personally lived during that time period, as did many of today’s attendees of the film, “Summer of Soul”. In fact, that shared experience has created spontaneous discussion groups between film goers after the film, even while wearing masks of the pandemic.
What has happened since these two festivals?
A Black man did become President of the United States for two terms, Barack Obama (January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017).
The civil rights movement broke the prevailing pattern of segregation.
One of the greatest achievements of the civil rights movement was the Civil Rights Act (1964), which led to greater social and economic mobility for African-Americans across the nation and banned racial discrimination, providing greater access to resources for women, religious minorities, African-Americans and low-income families.
The hard won civil rights include the right to vote, the right to a fair trial, the right to government services, the right to a public education, and the right to use public facilities.
Both festivals used the joy of music to change American culture towards a more tolerant, fairer and more just way of living.
The “Summer of Soul” reminds us that a few bumps in the road cannot stop the train of ever expanding progress in being worthy inhabitants of our shared world.
The Woodstock organizers were faced with financial ruin at the end of their four days, but managed to get that turned around when the Academy Award winning documentary film Woodstock was released in March 1970. Maybe the 2021-22 Academy Awards will do the same for “Summer of Soul”.
Trailer:
SUMMER OF SOUL | Official Trailer | In Theaters and on Hulu July 2 – Bing video
Full Cast & Crew
Directed by
| Questlove | … | (as Ahmir-Khalib Thompson) |
| Hal Tulchin | ||
Cast
Produced by
| Inuka Bacote-Capiga | … | co-producer |
| David Dinerstein | … | producer |
| Robert Fyvolent | … | producer |
| Beth Hubbard | … | executive producer |
| Joseph Patel | … | producer |
| Hal Tulchin | … | producer |
| Summer of Soul Wiki:
Woodstock Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock Harlem Cultural Festival Wiki: |
Summer of Soul Wiki:
Woodstock Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock
Harlem Cultural Festival Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Cultural_Festival
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
7/28/2021 # Summer of Soul