Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Documentary filmmaker Questlove sets out to resurrect the forgotten 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, racing against decades of obscurity to showcase a vibrant celebration of Black music and pride that could reshape history’s soundtrack.
“A Questlove Jawn.”
Synopsis
During the same summer as Woodstock, more than 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, which celebrated African American music and culture while promoting Black pride and unity. Footage of the festival remained stored in a basement and was unseen for over fifty years, keeping the event largely unknown in America.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 68+ credited
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Joshua L PearsonShot by Shawn Peters
Box Office
2021 · Box office
Grossed $3.7M worldwide
Worldwide gross
$3.7M
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Cast & Crew
68 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Dorinda Drake
as Self - Festival Attendee
Barbara Bland Acosta
as Self - Festival Attendee
Darryl Lewis
as Self - Festival Attendee
Ethel Beatty
as Self - Festival Attendee
Al Sharpton
as Self - Minister & Activist
Allen Zerkin
as Self - Former Assistant to Tony Lawrence
Margot Edman
as Self - Festival Production Assistant
Alan Leeds
as Self - Music Manager & Executive
Cyril Bullwhip Innis Jr
as Self - Black Panther Party
Hal Tulchin
as Self - Director & Producer, Harlem Cultural Festival 1969
Stevie Wonder
as Self
Lin Manuel Miranda
as Self - Artist
Supporting cast
51Chris Rock
as Self - Artist
Tony Lawrence
as Self - Harlem Cultural Festival Producer & Host (archive footage)
Nina Simone
as Self (archive footage)
B B King
as Self (archive footage)
Abbey Lincoln
as Self (archive footage)
Mavis Staples
as Self - Singer (archive footage) (voice)
Mahalia Jackson
as Self (archive footage)
David Ruffin
as Self
Sly Stone
as Self - Performer (archive footage)
Hugh Masekela
as Self (archive footage)
John V Lindsay
as Self (archive footage)
Ray Barretto
as Self - Performer (archive footage)
Herbie Mann
as Self (archive footage)
Greg Errico
as Self - Drummer, Sly & the Family Stone
Roy Ayers
as Self
Musa Jackson
as Self - Festival Attendee
Charlayne Hunter Gault
as Self - Former Reporter, The New York Times
Cholly Atkins
as Self - Choreographer for Motown (archive footage)
Mongo Santamaria
as Self - Performer (archive footage)
Questlove
as Self (uncredited)
Luis A Miranda Jr
as Self - Civic Leader
Walter Cronkite
as Self - Host, CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (archive footage)
Malcolm X
as Self - Activist (archive footage)
Martin Luther King Jr
as Self - Activist (archive footage)
Robert F Kennedy
as Self - Presidential Candidate (archive footage)
Richard Nixon
as Self - 37th President of the United States (archive footage)
John F Kennedy
as Self - 35th President of the United States (archive footage)
Jesse Jackson
as Self
Moms Mabley
as Self (archive footage)
Max Roach
as Self (archive footage)
Fidel Castro
as Self (archive footage)
Redd Foxx
as Self - Comedian & Actor (archive footage)
Gladys Knight
as Self - Musician
Dinah Shore
as Self (archive footage)
Buzz Aldrin
as Self (archive sound)
Marilyn Mccoo
as Self - The 5th Dimension
Sheila E
as Self - Musician
Berry Gordy
as Self - Founder of Motown Records (archive footage)
Neil Armstrong
as Self (archive sound)
George Kirby
as Self (archive footage)
Willie Tyler
as Self - Ventriloquist (archive footage)
Billy Davis Jr
as Self - The 5th Dimension
John Chancellor
as Self (archive footage)
Dewey Pigmeat Markham
as Self (archive footage)
Adam Clayton Powell Jr
as Self - Performer (archive footage)
Roebuck Pops Staples
as Self - Performer (archive footage)
Harry Reasoner
as Self (archive footage)
Selema Masekela
as Self - Son of Hugh Masekela
Edwin Hawkins
as Self - Performer (archive footage)
Kwame Ture
as Self - Activist (archive footage)
Bones Howe
as Self - Music Producer (archive footage)
Directors
2Producers
4Other crew
2Parents Guide
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