I think of this festival, there were 11 drum solos.

There were more drum solos than guitar solos.

And so I was just going to start with just a avalanche of drum soliloing.

But it was a little too much.

And so I figured Stevie was shocking enough because you'd just never seen him in that light before.

And I knew I wanted to gobsmack people like with something shocking.

Hello and welcome back to the Directors Cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.

In this episode, director Amir Questlove Thompson takes us behind the scenes of his new documentary, Summer of Soul, or when the Revolution could not be televised.

The film shines a light on archival footage of the Harlem Cultural Festival,

an epic event celebrating Black history, culture, and fashion that took place in the summer of

1969, just 100 miles south of Woodstock.

Standing as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, the film includes

concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Phoebe King, and more.

Summer of Soul was screened as part of the DGA's documentary series, which aims to spotlight

groundbreaking nonfiction films by presenting screenings of documentaries, as well as conversations with their directors.

Summer of Soul is Mr. Thompson's directorial debut.

Following the documentary series screening of the film at the DGA Theater in New York,

Mr. Thompson spoke with director Amir Barr-Lev about filming Summer of Soul

or when the Revolution could not be televised. Listen on for their spoiler-filled conversation.

All right. It's the Amir show. I know. It was a strange voice of God. Have you ever done a talk with another Amir?

No, this is the first time. Nice to meet you. Finally. Good to meet you. Thank you. All right.

I have an H. My name. Yeah, I'm jealous of it. Yeah.

...