Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) - 1 nomination

 

Best Documentary Feature
Questlove
Joseph Patel
Robert Fyvolent
David Dinerstein

Summer of Soul is Questlove's incredible directorial debut. It takes never before seen footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival and mixes it with interviews from those who attended and those who performed.  The music is incredible, of course.  B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Fifth Dimension, Mahalia Jackson - all of these and more were on the bill.  While Woodstock was getting all the attention not far away in New York State, the most significant festival in the African American community was attracting tens of thousands.  Yet, somehow the footage of the festival sat in a basement for over 50 years collecting dust, and this is the first time I've even ever heard of the celebration.

The festival was about more than music.  It was about civil rights, income inequality, and injustice of all kinds.  During the festival, NASA landed astronauts on the moon and when concert-goers were asked about it, they reflected that the money could have been better spent helping poor people in Harlem and throughout the country.  Nina Simone sings Young, Gifted and Black and your heart shatters.

This film, surely to be the winner of the documentary category, was a soul shaker.  I cried, I danced, I enjoyed every second.