#343 - The Directors of Summer of Soul and Eyimofe (This Is My Desire)

This week on the Film at Lincoln Center podcast, we’re featuring two Q&As with filmmakers whose debut features are arriving this month. Our first Q&A is with director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson discussing his first film, Summer of Soul, with NYFF Director Eugene Hernandez, presented after our outdoor screening at Lincoln Center’s Restart Stages. This conversation is followed by a Q&A from the 50th New Directors/New Films with the director duo Chuko and Arie Esiri and their debut film Eyimofe (This Is My Desire), moderated by FLC’s Assistant Programmer Dan Sullivan. In Summer of Soul, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary—part music film, part historical record, created around the epic Harlem Cultural Festival, which was filmed in Mount Morris Park in 1969. The footage was never seen and largely forgotten–until now. Inspired by the legacies of neorealism, the Esiri brothers’ fluid and precise Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) is a tale consisting of two parallel narratives, following a pair of characters trying to transcend their daily struggles in teeming Lagos. Summer of Soul is now playing on Hulu and in theaters, and Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) is coming to theaters next week.