Photo Credit: Paras Griffin for 24th SCAD Savannah Film Festival via Getty Images
Questlove is Now Officially an Oscar Nominee
Directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson,Summer of Soul has received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
Questlove has plenty of reason to let the sunshine in. On Tuesday morning, it was announced that his directed filmSummer of Soul, chronicling performances at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature.
Following the announcement, which took place via livestream on the Oscars website, Quest went to Twitter to rejoice about his nomination.
\u201cDDFSVGBDFHRTMJUJYHTGRFBGHJUYETGRBNHJUJHTGRFBGHFGJYHGRFBGHJUYJHTGEBDFNH J!!!!!!!!!!\u201d— Plug 5. (@Plug 5.) 1644327939
\u201cOscar Nominated Film Director Questlove......I just need to see this in print. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\u201d— Plug 5. (@Plug 5.) 1644328444
First premiering at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, Summer of Soulreceived high praise for debuting unreleased footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which boasted appearances fromNina Simone,Stevie Wonder,Sly and the Family Stoneand more. The Summer of Soul soundtrack also received critical acclaim for being an archive of music from the 1960s soul era, including songs that weren't featured in the film.
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After it's full-length release last June,Summer of Soulnabbed a myriad of awards, including Best Music Documentary, Best Archival Documentary and Best First Documentary Feature at the Critics' Choice Awards; Best Documentary Film at the Gotham Independent Film Awards; and Best Documentary Film at the National Board of Review.
In a new profile with the Los Angeles Times, Quest talked about the formation ofSummer of Souland how the protest music of summer of 1969 connects to civil unrest music of summer of 2020.
"I do wonder that if there were a reframing in the telling of the story that this was important just like Woodstock, this was important, this was important too could this have changed lives? I absolutely think so," Quest said.
"But, heres the other thing. I also feel as though this film is still a baby. Like this film can still work its magic 50 years after the fact. This film has changed my life in ways that I cant even explain. So just that alone, the fact that Ive been given the opportunity to tell other music stories on this level shows you how much its going to change and its going to move somebody."
The 94th Academy Awards broadcast air live on Sunday, March 27th at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC.