Press release - Specials

February 10, 2022

Onyx Collective, Searchlight Pictures and Hulu’s Oscar®-Nominated Documentary, ‘Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised),’ Makes Its Broadcast Television Premiere, Sunday, Feb. 20, at 8/7c on ABC

Promo Available Here

Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Oscar®-nominated and multiple award-winning documentary “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” will make its broadcast television premiere on ABC on SUNDAY, FEB. 20 (8:00-10:31 p.m. EST). In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary – part music film, part historical record – created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in summer 1969, just 100 miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was largely forgotten – until now.

“Summer of Soul” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. The film has swept the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards with wins in all six categories for which it was nominated, including Best Documentary Feature and Best Director. It has also won 46 awards across critics’ groups and guilds including DOC NYC, the AFI Special Award, LAFCA, AAFCA and NBR, and has earned an additional 43 nominations including the 94th Oscars®, 75th BAFTA Awards, DGA, Cinema Eye Honors, the GRAMMYS, IDA, PGA, NAACP, ACE, MPSE Golden Reel, among many others.

Earlier this week, “Summer of Soul” secured Disney’s Onyx Collective’s first Academy Award® nomination, in partnership with Searchlight Pictures and Hulu.

“Summer of Soul” is streaming on Hulu and Disney+, in conjunction with Onyx Collective; Searchlight Pictures released it theatrically.

About ABC Entertainment
ABC Entertainment’s compelling programming includes “Grey’s Anatomy,” the longest-running medical drama in primetime television; ratings juggernaut “The Bachelor” franchise; riveting dramas “Big Sky,” “The Good Doctor,” “A Million Little Things,” “Queens,” “The Rookie” and “Station 19”; trailblazing comedies “Abbott Elementary,” “black-ish,” “The Conners,” “The Goldbergs,” “Home Economics” and “The Wonder Years,” ABC’s strongest comedy debut in two years; the popular Summer Fun & Games programming block, including “The $100,000 Pyramid,” “Celebrity Family Feud” and “Press Your Luck”; star-making sensation “American Idol”; “Judge Steve Harvey,” the network’s strongest unscripted series debut in a year; reality phenomenon “Shark Tank”; family favorites “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune,” “The Chase,” “Dancing with the Stars,” “Holey Moley” and “To Tell the Truth”; “General Hospital,” which has aired for more than 55 years on the network; and late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”; as well as the critically acclaimed, Emmy® Award-winning “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” specials. The network also boasts some of television’s most prestigious awards shows, including “The Oscars®,” “The CMA Awards” and the “American Music Awards.”

ABC programming can also be viewed on demand and on Hulu.

About Onyx Collective
Onyx Collective is a new content brand formed under Disney General Entertainment Content (DGE) designed to curate a slate of premium entertainment programming by creators of color and underrepresented voices. Onyx Collective ushers an exciting slate of content for a global audience including debut project, Questlove’s Oscar®-nominated and multiple award-winning documentary “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” The Hair Tales,” from executive producers Tracee Ellis Ross, Michaela angela Davis, and Oprah Winfrey, legal drama “Reasonable Doubt,” from executive producers Raamla Mohamed, Kerry Washington, and Larry Wilmore, and limited series, “The Plot,” executive produced and starring two-time Oscar® winner Mahershala Ali.

The brand’s roster of prolific creators also includes writer and comedian Natasha Rothwell (“Insecure,” “SNL”), writer, producer and director Prentice Penny’s Penny for Your Thoughts, Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media (“Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Black Panther”) and writer and director Destin Daniel Cretton (“Shang-Chi”) and his production company Family Owned.

Follow on Twitter @OnyxCollective

About Searchlight Pictures
Searchlight Pictures is a global specialty film company that develops, produces, finances and acquires motion pictures for both worldwide theatrical and streaming releases. It has its own marketing and distribution operations, and is part of The Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, the company’s titles have grossed over $5 billion worldwide, amassing 43 Academy Awards including five Best Picture winners since 2009: Slumdog Millionaire12 Years a Slave,Birdman, The Shape of Water, and Nomadland; 49 BAFTA Awards, and 28 Golden Globe Awards. Searchlight recently released Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, as well as Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s award-winning documentary feature Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) with Hulu and in partnership with Disney’s Onyx Collective. Upcoming releases include the Hulu Original Limited Series “The Dropout” from Michael Showalter, Mimi Cave’s FRESH, Tom George’s See How They Run, Andrew Ahn’s Fire Island, Mark Mylod’s The Menu, Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, and Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light. The company includes Searchlight Television, which develops and produces series for streaming, network, and cable partners.

 

ABC Media Relations
Nicole Balgemino
nicole.a.balgemino@abc.com

Photography/video available at www.dgepress.com.

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