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Questlove’s Summer of Soul Documentary Wins Sundance 2021 Grand Jury Prize

Last week the iconic Sundance Film Festival took place, in classic post 2020 style the festival wasn’t held in Park City, Utah as usual. Instead, as with most events around the world, the 2021 edition was a remote film festival.

This year’s edition includes cult films like the Nic Cage movie Prisoners of the Ghostland; the trippy animated flick Cryptozoo; and pandemic-related stories The Pink Cloud and In The Same Breath.

The biggest winner was Sian Heder’s coming of age drama “CODA,” which earned four U.S. Dramatic Competition awards, including the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award.

Other Big winners were “Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” by Quest Love which took home the two top U.S. Documentary awards.

Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revlution Could Not Be Televised) is a film directed by The Roots’ star Questlove and is about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival .

In a statement, Questlove said, “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 wants to give special thanks to Sundance, and my production partners: Radical Media, Vulcan Productions, Concordia, Play/Action Pictures and LarryBilly Productions.”

Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and more appear in the film that premiered at the 2021 edition of Sundance Film Festival.

Questlove reacted to the news on Twitter: “OOOOMMMGGGGHGGG WE DID IT.”

The festival is still ongoing virtually – you can check the daily film roster here.