That’s the path of many bright, famous musicians. Struggle. It’s all about the art. Breakthrough. Success. Excess. Downward spiral. Comeback. Fizzle under the weight of drugs, drink and celebrity. That’s the tale this informative Sly & The Family Stone tribute doc tells. That’s the notion created by Oscar®-winning filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson whose Summer of Soul (or…When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), a drummer/musician turned documentarian who redefined the soul music doc genre. With him at the helm, you know at least the music will be a thrill. And it is.

       Sudanese filmmakers, Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea Ahmed along with British director Phil Cox have chronicled the brave exploits of five individuals who ran for their lives. Four storylines depict their shock, fear, grief and ability to survive. Haunted by what they’ve seen and lost. Losing that secure feeling we get from having the stable homes, neighborhoods, communities, jobs and routines that ground us.

       Documentarians Maia Lekow, a renowned Kenyan musician/filmmaker, and her Australian-born husband and co-director Christopher King have given Kenya and the world a point-by-point project outline on how to snatch an outdated institution from the ashes and make it appropriate for the new world. They’ve chronicled the work of a writer named Shiro and a publisher named Wachuka. Two feisty, spirted academics who are turning a symbol of segregation into a lesson on perseverance and community building. The women get a 5-year government contract to renovate and refurbish a library that was segregated until 1958. They tear it apart and build it back up.

Flack revealed in 2022 that she had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which had taken away her ability to sing.