Wattstax (1973)

Directed by

Mel Stuart

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 43m

Rated

R

Rating

6.7 of 10 from 20 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary captures a 1972 benefit concert organized by Stax Records in Watts, Los Angeles. The film features performances by soul, gospel, and R&B artists while reflecting on the community's history since the 1965 riots.

celebratoryupliftingcommunalhistoricallive-performanceenergeticreverentretrospective

What happens

Wattstax was a benefit concert organized by Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the 1965 riots in the African-American community of Watts, Los Angeles. The concert took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 20, 1972. The concert's performers included all of Stax's prominent artists at the time. The genres of the songs performed included soul, gospel, R&B, blues, funk, and jazz. Months after the festival, Stax released a double LP of the concert's highlights, Wattstax: The Living Word. The concert was filmed by David L. Wolper's film crew and was made into the 1973 film titled Wattstax. The film was directed by Mel Stuart and nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Documentary Film in 1974. In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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