Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson's BAFTA and Oscar-nominated _Summer Of Soul _ is one of the finest directorial debuts in years, as the Roots drummer/musical maestro crafts a powerful and profound documentary that charts the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, a music festival that took place in the same summer as Woodstock, and yet didn't receive nearly the same cultural cachet.
In fact, footage of the festival lay, untouched, for almost 50 years before Questlove was clued in as to its existence, resolving to make this movie. The resulting documentary, one of the favourites to win Best Documentary on both sides of the Pond, is part celebration of the amazing artists who played at the Festival, but also a compelling deep dive into Black history, Black culture, Black joy and, as he tells Chris Hewitt in this exclusive interview, the notion of Black erasure. They also talk about Questlove's relationship with the material, finding interviewees for the movie, and how he's going to handle attending the Oscars, as a former Musical Director of the ceremony. Enjoy.
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