June 27, 2021
Courtesy of/Hulu
From late June through August of 1969, the Harlem Cultural Festival was graced by over 30 performances from music legends like Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King, Gladys Knight and The Pips and more.
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's film directing debut, "Summer Of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)," is among the library of new films and shows that will become available on Hulu starting next month.
The musical documentary tells the story of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, an event sometimes referred to as "Black Woodstock." It took place during the same "Summer of Love" as the more well-known three-day event in upstate New York.
From late June through August of 1969, the Harlem Cultural Festival was graced by over 30 performances from music legends like Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King, Gladys Knight and The Pips and more.
About 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, but its place in history has been obscured by a lack of exposure in subsequent decades.
One of the event's producers, Hal Tulchin, filmed over 40 hours of footage from the summer series. Most of it never saw the light of day due to a lack of interest in the festival and sat in boxes inside Tulchin's basement for 50 years – until Questlove was tapped to direct the documentary examining the history surrounding the event. The Roots drummer dedicated the film to Tulchin, who died in 2017.
The Philly native said that he chose footage for the film by constantly watching a 24-hour loop of performances wherever he went in his house or studio. The film's first draft consisted of over three hours of footage and had to be cut down to two hours.
Initially, Questlove wanted to call the film "Black Woodstock," a nod to the fact that the festival preceded and later overlapped with the world-famous Woodstock festival in New York in 1969. The title was ultimately changed because the musician thought it would be a disservice to compare the two, though the documentary points to the forgotten relevance of the Harlem event.
Before the musical documentary is set to be released to the general public this summer, "Summer of Soul" officially debuted earlier this year at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury prize and the Audience prize in the nonfiction category.
The film was also shown during the Philadelphia Film Society's SpringFest this month at the PFS Bourse in Old City.
"Summer of Soul" will premiere on Hulu and in select movie theaters July 2.
Among the other notable titles arriving to Hulu next month are a six-part series called "McCartney 3,2,1" that delves into Paul McCartney's musical career and the second season of the critically-acclaimed comedy-drama series "This Way Up."
Films such as "The Dark Knight," "Batman Begins" and "Friends With Benefits" are scheduled to depart the streaming service at the end of the month.
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RuPaul's Drag Race (Season 7)
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The Adventures of Hercules
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Bad Teacher
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Enemy at the Gates
The Face of Love
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The Feels
Fired Up!
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Free To Run
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Galaxy Quest
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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
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Hideaway
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I Do...Until I Don't
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Ice Age
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Indignation
Intermission
Intolerable Cruelty
Johnny English
Knowing
The Ladies Man
Last Days Here
Let's be Evil
Manic
The Mask
Maximum Risk
Mercury Rising
Morning Glory
Mystic Pizza
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Ode to Joy
Open Range
Open Water
Open Water 2: Adrift
Passage to Mars
Personal Shopper
The Polar Express
Rabid Dogs
Rebel in the Rye
Reno 911!: Miami: The Movie
Revolutionary Road
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Robocop 2
Robocop 3
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Shelley
Sightseers
Sleeping With The Enemy
Sleepwalkers
Soldier Boyz
Something's Gotta Give
Somewhere
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Space Jam
Stand by Me
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek: First Contact
Stephen King's Graveyard Shift
The Stepfather
Stonewall
Stray
Sunshine
Super Troopers
Sweet Virginia
Taffin
Take Every Wave
Take Shelter
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Timeline
Tooth Fairy
Twisted
Underworld
Underworld Awakening
Underworld Evolution
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Universal Soldier
The Unknown Girl
Whip It
White Nights
William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet
Wolves
Summer of Soul
Bill & Ted Face the Music
Flower of Evil (Season 1)
I'll Go To You When The Weather Is Fine (Season 1)
More Than Friends (Season 1)
Dreamcatcher
Leave No Trace
My Wife and Kids (Complete series)
Murdoch Mysteries (Season 13)
Papillon
This Way Up (Season 2)
Grown-ish (Season 4 premiere)
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
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Moffie
47 Meters Down
Love Island UK (Season 7 premiere)
Cleopatra in Space (Season 1)
My All-American
American Horror Stories (Series premiere)
20,000 Days on Earth
A Field In England
The Act of Killing
Amira & Sam
Borgman
Bullhead
Cheap Trills
The Complex: Lockdown
The Congress
The Connection
Enforcement
Exit Plan
The Final Member
The FP
I Declare War
The Keeping Room
Men & Chicken
Mood Indigo
Pieta
R100
Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made
Wrong
McCartney 3,2,1
Horimiya (Season 1)
Olympic Dreams featuring Jonas Brothers
The Artist
The Resort
Warrior
Desierto
The Last Full Measure
Bolt
All The Wild Horses
B.B. King: On The Road
The Beatles: Made on Merseyside
Bees Make Honey
Closing Gambit
Gloves Off
I, Dolours
In Extremis
Into the Night: Portraits of Life and Death
The Last Animals
Lost in Vagueness
Painkillers
For A Good Time, Call…
The Good, the Bad, the Weird
Like Someone in Love
Mad Detective
(500) Days of Summer
28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later
A Perfect Gateway
The Adventures of Hercules
Alive
Batman Begins
Before We Go
Blue Sky
Breach
Broken Flowers
Captain Corelli'S Mandolin
Caveman
The Crazies
Cyrus
The Dark Knight
Dinosaur 13
El Dorado
Evening
Fargo
Footloose
For Richer Or Poorer
Friends With Benefits
Gamer
Goodnight Mommy
Gorp
Grace Of Monaco
Hannibal Rising
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
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Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts Of Georgia
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I Feel Pretty
I Saw The Devil
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Internal Affairs
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The Jackal
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
The Ladies Man
L!Fe Happens
Lucky Number Slevin
Machete
McLintrock! (Producer's Cut)
Morning Glory
Mystic Pizza
The Nanny Diaries
National Lampoon's Van Wilder
The Natural
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Ong-Bak 2
Ong-Bak 3
The Pawnbroker
Predator
Predator 2
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Red Cliff
The Relic
Robocop
Robocop 2
Robocop 3
Seabiscuit
The Skeleton Key
Sliver
Slumdog Millionaire
Soldier Boyz
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Soul Food
The Spy Next Door
Stand by Me
Star Kid
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: First Generations
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
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Step Up 3D
Step Up Revolution
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