Gladys Knight & the Pips perform at the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969, featured in the documentary SUMMER OF SOUL. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2021 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved

We have been waiting for this movie to arrive in theaters and now we are just days away from its release. Only a small percentage of our readers may recall the over 50-year-old Harlem Cultural Festival. Social Media did not exist at the time to share, no television network broadcasted live from the scene. You literally just had to be there. It is hard to imagine such an event these days where the biggest names in music would gather in one spot and perform for the People. Now more than 50 years after the festival the rich expression of our cultural heritage via Soul music, can be viewed and understood by later generations.

Ticket Giveaway

DELUX would like to invite you and a guest to the St. Louis area screening of Summer of Soul. 20 people will be randomly selected to attend the St. Louis area event on June 29th in Chesterfield at 7pm. Winners will be notified via email by Friday June 25th.

Summer of Soul
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About Summer of Soul

Summer of Soul is about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. Summer of Soul is part music, part historical record. It was created around an amazing event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion. Over six weeks, in the summer of 1969, one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). This festival was a wonderful celebration of Black and Latinx culture, pride, and unity. It was attended by over 300,000 people. The footage sat in a basement for 50 years, forgotten–until now.

Summer of Soul illustrates the importance of history to our spiritual well-being and stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest. There is footage from the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s and 70s. The film’s title is a reference to Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 poem and song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” This title was a popular slogan of the Black Power movement in the 1960s. It was also a direct response to the spoken-word piece “When the Revolution Comes” by The Last Poets. The feature includes never-before-seen concert performances by a variety of artists, including Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and more. -Press Release

Directed by: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, acclaimed debut film.
Produced by: Joseph Patel, p.g.a., Robert Fyvolent, p.g.a., David Dinerstein, p.g.a.
Executive Producers:  Jen Isaacson, Jon Kamen, Dave Sirulnick, Jody Allen, Ruth Johnston, Rocky Collins, Jannat Gargi, Beth Hubbard, Davis Guggenheim, Laurene Powell Jobs, Jeffrey Lurie, Marie Therese Guirgis, David Barse, Ron Eisenberg, Sheila Johnson, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson

DeWarren Smith