'Summer Of Soul' Celebrates Black Joy Amid The Pain Of The '60s
'Summer Of Soul' Celebrates Black Joy Amid The Pain Of The '60s
Photo Credit: Sundance Institute

Questlove's 'Summer Of Soul' Gets Theater And Hulu Release Date

Summer of Soul won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for documentaries at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Questlove's Summer of Souldocumentary has now gotten an official release date for theaters and Hulu. The film is set to release on July 2, 2021, just in time for the summer. A couple months back it was reported that Hulu and Searchlight had scooped up the film following its premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

The film stitches together more than 40 hours of previously unseen footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which includes performances from Nina Simone, B.B. King, Mavis Staples, Sly & The Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, and more. The film won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance.

"The most astounding discovery I had doing this film was that all these great talents gathered and gave their time and their energy and their creativity to this festival. This is three months before Woodstock happened. And it was recorded and documented and when it was over, just like that, it was done in a flash. Nobody cared," Questlove said in an explainer video of the project for Sundance.

Quest is following up Summer of Soul with a documentary on the life and legacy of Sly Stone.

“It goes beyond saying that Sly’s creative legacy is in my DNA,” he said in a statement. “It’s a Black musician’s blueprint. To be given the honor to explore his history and legacy is beyond a dream for me,” the drummer adds. Questlove will be joined on the project by fellow Soulquarian, Common, who will serve as an executive producer for the film.

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