Pretty amazing that these household names are nobodies here.

Brilliant presentation. The footage, the artists, the songs! More of this please!!!

Harlem Woodstock...practically uncovered by the media at the time,except for this film....great music,big names,educational,entertaining

It is a documentary that lets the sun shine through

Summer of Soul es una carta de amor al sentirnos orgulloso de dónde venimos y que, sin importar nuestro color de piel, nuestra religión o nuestra identidad podemos logra lo que queramos. El cómo la música fue fundamental para el cambio de paradigma en la cultura latente a finales de los 60's es único. La película lo presenta con música increíble de todos los géneros predominantes de esa época, es vibrante y con un poderoso mensaje de buscar salir adelante y tener las mismas oportunidades en un país que parece arrebatárselas cada vez que tiene la oportunidad. El cómo la música puede ser un conductor que ataque problemas sociales y no quedándose únicamente en un status superficial, que sí, también es importante, pero lo que estos artistas lograron expresar a través de la música fue golpe autoritario hacia la búsqueda de un cambio. Creando una identidad postmoderna que explotó a inicios de los 70's, a base de referentes musicales, la expresión creativa y sus consecuencias, incitando a la libertad de expresión y a formar un criterio que vaya más allá de lo preestablecido.

I watched it twice. Back to back. I suppose that's saying something.

Brilliant, historical, and enlightening.

Gospel, jazz or blues are not my go to musical genres. I really could have lived my life perfectly fine as it is without ever knowing of the Harlem Cultural Festival as a white person. But am I glad to have seen it. The fact there was footage and then it sat for almost 50 years in a basement, forgotten and abandoned by everyone because the networks did not believe in it is truly astonishing. And not only does Questlove bring to light this never seen before footage (due to age, some footage is somewhat corrupted, but it's mostly pristine, surprisingly), but he also perfectly balances showing MOST OF THE FOOTAGE WITHOUT JUST IMMEDIATELY EDITING TO PEOPLE TALKING with the perspectives of producers, directors, managers, the artists who had performed, people who had attended, with excellent editing and use of the montage, especially when depicting stuff like riots or what have you at the beginning of the film prior to the title. Overall, a very educational and enlightening documentary with very great editing and interesting stories that will open your eyes to the Black Woodstock. (I really liked the part where they mentioned how one of the days where the festival took place just so happened to coincide with the landing on the Moon, and how a lot of Black folks back then had other worries to think about other than the fact we had managed to get on the moon. Yet, only one was still talked about widely before this docu came out, and it's easy to guess which of them).

It's incredible how music, culture and societal issues were weaved together to tell the story of a forgotten festival in the heart of Harlem. Very educational, albeit not relatable for a young viewer like myself. (78%)

This is a great musical documentary - it showcases an event not well known of/by, for many and for fans of soul music, its a great find. Lots of energetic, vigorous performances by a wide range of successful performers (Nina Simone and Stevie Wonder, among many others), some of which share their memories of what happened when they performed at this event in Harlem in the 1960s. The sense of hope and optimism is clearly put across - as a white person, I feel frustrated and disappointed that there's such little record of this event. Its a good piece of social history and a good showcase of soul music at that time. I would definitely recommend this to people interested in it, yes.

While documentaries thrive as insightful deliverances between deepened accesses and examining discussions for formally informed awareness sometimes advocating needed changes, there's a more positive functional effect with pure transportive narrative via certified time capsule. That's what this film turned out to be with an open invitation to find yourself foot-tapping to those infectious beats of potentially broadening the horizonal tastes with increased appreciation and genuine applause that shall continuously define those legacies. The transportive narrative is an experience towards the main events that instantly proven itself becoming more enjoyable than attending its disastrously indecent parallel within Woodstock when knowing the history built by the same social classes that represses other cultures like this particularity. Through that statement, it amusingly expresses irony via social reflection surrounding the two simultaneous music festivals with the black musicians and audiences effortlessly proven themselves purer than those who sung and attended Woodstock. But no matter what as nicely explained by the buildup, certain cultures fueled by talented passions are still refused from being given the true value they deserve because of ignorantly being the other. Hopefully now this high-ranking documentary can provoke that revelation to full realization as a secondary thought behind the primary enjoyment towards those jam sessions that you're unable to say no to such kind nature of it all. (A-)

As infectiously joyful as art gets, this documentary is every bit as good as just about every review suggests. I can't claim that this music is the sort I habitually listen to, but there are still several moments in this that left me with goosebumps; and Questlove really deftly weaves interviews and information to give social, historical, cultural and political context - as a result we're never in doubt as to the link between music and activism, and how joyful art fuels political change. An object lesson in how to inspire, educate and entertain; I could happily watch this repeatedly, and watch much longer cuts. Superb.

Awesome concert footage from a moment in history I never knew happened.

An absolutely masterful documentary that crams history, cultural context, fashion, politics, musical analysis, and oh yeah, incredible performances into its feels-too-short 2 hour run time.

It would be a 5 star if morbius was there

This was very informative and entertaining. It was great to hear the great music and see it performed.

Spent 10 minutes watching this. Very slow pacing. Not my kind of music documentary. Needed more from the director on this film.

Intriguing to hear from those who were there, and refreshing to see footage of what was overlooked by television of the time.

a powerful epiphany of the mighty black music and culture

Black Woodstock. What's that, you didn't know that even happened? Well, neither did I, until I saw this incredible documentary. Musician QuestLove makes his directorial debut and he brings us a spectacular extravaganza of interwoven archival footage and in-depth interviews of a festival that most of us didn't even know had occurred. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, The Harlem Cultural Festival took place in New York City, and this brings us footage that was never seen, and almost completely forgotten. This is a history lesson that everyone should see. My pick for Best for Outstanding Documentary Feature at this year's Oscars, in a very, very, very crowded field.