We all know Woodstock: we have a more or less concrete image of those who sang on its fields, we are familiar with the human swarm that, during those three legendary days, conquered every single free patch of grass, and we have often assimilated the values that were promoted there. A smaller number of us have also heard about Altamont – the anti-Woodstock that, at least at a symbolic level, pretty much put an end to the days of hippieness and happiness –, whether because we might be interested in the roots of counterculture, or because we are cinephiles and have seen that Maysles Brothers’ mythical documentary, Gimme Shelter, which covers an equally mythical concert by The Rolling Stones. But how many of us have the same amount of documentary coverage of a similar event called The Harlem Cultural Festival, which due to a series of complex motivations, ended up being swallowed in time? For us, all these ignorants who feel that things have remained in a thankless state of suspension and that they must urgently be recovered, a documentary like Summer of Soul, directed by musician Questlove, will serve as an ideal introduction to the topic’s hardened skin. And for others, who rightfully consider The Harlem Cultural Festival to be a nodal point in the struggle for the emancipation of people of color, the film will serve as a way to make amends, a confirmation, a necklace onto which memories of happiness are strung like pearls. 

Victor Morozov

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Film critic and journalist; writes regularly for Dilema Veche and Scena9. He studied film theory in Grenoble, Paris, Dublin.

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