Award Winning Documentary Premiering Downtown
The National Blues Museum, Hulu, Onyx Collective, and Searchlight Pictures present Summer of Soul Block Party, an outdoor premiere screening of the documentary "Summer of Soul." The event will be held on the corner of N. 6th St. and Washington Ave. in Downtown St. Louis this Saturday, June 26th from 4pm-11pm.
The schedule for other festivities includes:
4pm: Renaissance Band
7pm: Ms. Hy-C & Fresh Start featuring an appearance by Roland Johnson
9pm: ”Summer of Soul” will be projected on our outdoor movie screen at the corner of Washington and 6th Ave.
This event is free and open to all. Guests should bring their outdoor chair, and there will be free popcorn and many giveaways all day.
"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 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 celebration of Black and Latinx culture, pride, and unity. It was attended by more than 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 an apparent 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, as well as a 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.
The film is directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and produced by Joseph Patel, p.g.a., Robert Fyvolent, p.g.a. and David Dinerstein, p.g.a. Executive producers include 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 and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson.
The film hits theaters and Hulu on July 2nd, 2021
The National Blues Museum is a non-profit organization located in the St. Louis convention and tourism district center. The Museum is dedicated to keeping Blues alive and celebrating the genre's legacy as the foundational element of modern music. The National Blues Museum proudly preserves Black history and culture every day. Voted as a top travel destination by The New York Times, Smithsonian.com, and CNN, the National Blues Museum uses artifact-driven exhibits, live performances, and interactive galleries to continue Blues culture for future generations of artists, fans, and historians.