VIA PRESS RELEASE | Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s feature documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) has been awarded the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Documentary and the Audience Award for U.S. Documentary at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. In his directorial debut, Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) explores the legendary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival which celebrated African American music and culture and promoted black pride and unity.
Of the prizes, Questlove shares, “It has always been a dream of mine to direct films and telling this story has truly been an amazing experience. I am overwhelmed and honored by the reception the film is receiving and want to give special thanks to Sundance, and my production partners: Radical Media, Vulcan Productions, Concordia, Play/Action Pictures and LarryBilly Productions.” In 1969, during the same summer as Woodstock, a different music festival took place 100 miles away. Over 300,000 people attended the concert series known as the Harlem Cultural Festival. It was free to all. The festival was filmed, but after that summer, the footage sat in a basement for 50 years. It has never been seen. Until now. Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) is produced by David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent, Joseph Patel, and Radical Media New York. Questlove is repped by Shawn Gee of Maverick Entertainment.
About Questlove | Drummer, DJ, producer, culinary entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, and member of The Roots—Questlove, is the unmistakable heartbeat of Philadelphia’s most influential hip-hop group. He is the Musical Director for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where his beloved Roots crew serves as house band. Beyond that, this 4-time GRAMMY Award winning musician’s indisputable reputation has landed him musical directing positions with everyone from D’Angelo to Eminem to Jay-Z.
Questlove has also released four books including the New York Times bestseller Mo’ Meta Blues, Soul Train: The Music, Dance and Style of a Generation, somethingtofoodabout and most recently Mixtape Potluck. Questlove and Black Thought of The Roots have Executive Produced the acclaimed documentary series, Hip-Hop: The Songs The Shook America on AMC under their production company, Two One Five Entertainment which recently announced a first-look deal with Universal Television to develop scripted and non-scripted programming.
Questlove will serve as executive producer for upcoming documentary, The League, centered on the tumultuous journey of Negro league baseball. He also made his directorial debut with the acclaimed feature documentary Summer of Soul, which explores the legendary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. The film debuted on the opening night of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival in January.
Additionally, Questlove served as the Executive Music Producer and Composer on the A&E Miniseries Roots. He also scored Chris Rock’s film, Top Five and co-produced the GRAMMY Award winning Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hamilton. Questlove also hosts his own podcast Questlove Supreme on iHeart. Most recently, Questlove co-starred in Disney Pixar’s critically acclaimed animated feature Soul, which premiered in December 2020.
