WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — On Wednesday, Sept. 14, the Clark Art Institute partners with Images Cinema to screen Summer of Soul, the Oscar-winning documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. The film will be shown outdoors near the Clark’s Reflecting Pool at dusk, around 7:30 p.m.

Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, the Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). More than 300,000 people attended the summer concert series that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion.

After the summer of 1969, the festival footage sat in a basement for fifty years . . . until its debut in Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s debut film, Summer of Soul. The documentary—hailed as part music film, part historical record—includes concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and more. 

Summer of Soul premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the documentary categories. The recipient of an Academy Award, a Grammy, and a Peabody Award, Summer of Soul stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past and present.

Free; no registration is required. The film is rated PG. Bring a picnic and your own seating. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.