Questlove directing a Sly Stone documentary (Common is a producer)
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson‘s directorial debut, the music documentary Summer of Soul, recently won two awards at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, and now Deadline reports he’s announced his second film will be a documentary about Sly & The Family Stone (one of the acts featured in Summer of Soul).
“It goes beyond saying that Sly’s creative legacy is in my DNA….it’s a black musician’s blueprint….to be given the honor to explore his history and legacy is beyond a dream for me,” Questlove said in a statement. Common will be one of the film’s executive producers and it’s being made for MRC Entertainment that also are behind the new Sparks documentary.
As to the focus of this film, MRC says “the untitled documentary follows the story of the influential artist, king of funk, and fashion icon Sly Stone, a musician who was breaking all the rules at a time when doing so was extremely challenging, even dangerous. The pressure of explosive mainstream pop success and the responsibility of representing Black America forced him to walk the fine line of impossible expectations.”
The film is obviously in the very early stages of development, so stay tuned for more details. No word on when Summer of Soul will be released, either.
