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The 1960s and 1970s saw the rise of the music festival, and a number of documentaries have captured the spirit of these events. Some of the biggest bands at the time played festivals, and documentarians immortalized their sets and the atmosphere — both jubilant and dangerous — that characterized the performances. Here are seven of the best documentaries to watch about music festivals.

Jimi Hendrix | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images ‘Woodstock’

Woodstock was the defining music festival of the century, and the 1970 film Woodstock captures its spirit. Even viewers who weren’t yet alive during the three-day festival in Woodstock, New York, will walk away with a sense of what it was like to attend. It features performances by artists like Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joan Baez, The Who, Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix.

Thelma Schoonmaker and Martin Scorsese editing the 'Woodstock' documentary in 1969. pic.twitter.com/E5WPO6NCPd

— Lost In...

The love affair between Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund and the Cannes Film Festival continues.

The 48-year-old director will return to the scene of his recent triumph, as it was just last year that his “Triangle of Sadness” came away with the coveted Palme d’Or, the top prize at the most prestigious festival in world cinema. (Don’t tell Venice I said that.)

“I am happy, proud, and humbled to be trusted with the honor of jury president for this year’s competition at the Festival de Cannes,” he wrote in an announcement released by the festival early Tuesday morning. “I am sincere when I say that cinema culture is in its most important period ever,” he continued.

Östlund’s “Triangle” is, of course, currently a long-shot Oscar candidate in three categories: Best Director (a nomination for Östlund), Best Original Screenplay (another nomination for Östlund), and Best Picture (a nomination...

Little Milton (born Milton James Campbell on September 7, 1934 in Inverness, Mississippi; his father was Big Milton) came up singing the blues and by the '70s had moved into hardcore soul. He was a master of both styles.

In 1953 Ike Turner recruited Milton for the legendary Sun Records. His Sun singles didn't achieve success, and he spent subsequent years hopping from label to label until he started a label, Bobbin, with a St. Louis DJ. When they had a falling out, Little Milton moved to the Chess subsidiary Checker (which had been distributing Bobbin), even bringing at least one track recorded for Bobbin. Soon Milton branched out from performing to producing and managing other performers, and also gained his first hit (on the R&B chart) in 1962, "Mean to Me."

This period of Little Milton's career is well covered on the 16-song Chess CD Greatest Hits in the label's 50th Anniversary Collection series.

Film director known for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Wattstax

Mel Stuart, who has died aged 83, became widely known for directing two radically dissimilar films, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Wattstax. The former, which Stuart called "the most rewarding experience of my career", was a garish and joyfully warped musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Received without enthusiasm on its release in 1971, the movie became over the next few decades a children's favourite, though its psychedelic overtones extended its appeal beyond that core audience. "Although I have been a film-maker for over 40 years," Stuart wrote in 2001, "Willy Wonka is the one work that has reached out to and been embraced by a wide audience."

Wattstax, released two years later, also acquired a cult following, one which might have increased had music rights issues not made the film hard to see until the late 1990s.

Though Bob Hoskins retiring due to being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease was certainly some sad news, this hits just as close to my childhood heart. The Washington Post reports director Mel Stuart, responsible for the musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic book Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, has passed away at 83-years old after battling with cancer. In addition to directing that childhood favorite of mine, Stuart also leaves behind the legacy of documentary films such as The Making of the President 1960 (which won an Emmy) and the Academy Award nominated Four Days in November. More below. Stuart also followed presidential campaigns with a documentarian's eye on the campaigns from 1964 and 1968, in addition to lensing Wattstax, following the music festival of the same name and the aftermath of riots in the community in 1965. Other documentary features included work for PBS as part of their "American Masters" ...

New York — Mel Stuart, an award-winning documentarian who also directed "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," has died. He was 83.

His daughter, Madeline Stuart, said he died Thursday night of cancer at his home in Los Angeles.

Stuart's documentaries include "The Making of the President 1960," for which he won an Emmy, as well as subsequent explorations of the 1964 and `68 campaigns. Other programs were "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and the Oscar-nominated "Four Days in November."

His groundbreaking 1973 film "Wattstax" focused on the Wattstax music festival of the previous year and Los Angeles' Watts community in the aftermath of the 1965 riots.

But while Stuart's documentaries won acclaim and cemented his reputation, he won a special sort of following with the 1971 musical fantasy "Willy Wonka."

That film was his response to a young reader of the Roald Dahl children's classic "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory": Stuart's daughter Madeline...

Director Mel Stuart passed away Thursday night. He was 83. Stuart is best known for his 1971 Roald Dahl adaptation, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," which starred Gene Wilder as the oddball chocolatier. Despite its poor return at the box office, the film went on to become a cult classic, inspiring a generation of kids and adults with its memorable songs and colorful visuals. Before the movie was released in theaters, Wilder sent a now famous letter to Stuart regarding Wonka's costume: "I love the main thing -- the velvet jacket -- and I mean to show by my sketch the exact same color. But I've added two large pockets to take away from the svelt, feminine line ... The hat is terrific, but making it 2 inches shorter would make it more special." In addition to "Wonka," Stuart also directed the groundbreaking music documentary "Wattstax," which followed the legendary Wattstax music festival in Los Angeles,...

Mel Stuart -- who directed the iconic family musical Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory -- has died at 83.

Stuart's daughter Madeline Stuart told the Associated Press that her father died Thursday night of cancer at his home in Los Angeles.

Related: Stars Who Have Passed Away in 2011

In 1971 Stuart directed Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory -- the story about a poor boy's visit to a fantastical candy factory starring Gene Wilder and Gene Wilder and Jack Albertson.

Stuart also made dozens of documentaries including three editions of The Making of the President, as well as the PBS series American Masters, which featured artist Man Ray and director Billy Wilder. His groundbreaking film Wattstax focused on the 1972 music festival and Los Angeles' largely black Watts neighborhood following the 1965 riots.

Chicago – Mark Landsman’s “Thunder Soul” is an exceedingly good film about a great man. Conrad O. Johnson Sr. worked for 37 years as a band teacher, and his unconventional educational methods in the classroom led his Houston high school students to unlikely international stardom in the early ’70s. Their success was so extraordinary that one wishes the filmmakers had probed a little further into their story.

The film, which racked up multiple audience awards at festivals such as South by Southwest, is more interested in celebrating the spirit of the Kashmere Stage Band than providing much insight into their innovative technique. What we can glean from the footage is that Johnson taught through empowerment. He told his students that they could play funk like the best professionals in the business as long as they believed in their own abilities. He demanded immense feeling in the their music, and that same...

Mark Landsman’s Thunder Soul hits theaters this Friday, so in lieu of a traditional interview we asked him, what five documentary films influenced him as a filmmaker during the creation of Thunder Soul.

I find it challenging whenever anyone asks me to list a ‘top five’ of anything--especially movies--because I love a lot of them for a lot of different reasons--it’s tough to do a process of elimination. But in thinking about it, in terms of the top five docs that have made the greatest impact on me as a filmmaker and most influenced my current project, Thunder Soul, I think it’d be these. I offer them up knowing that there are many more that live in the brain drive and influence me even when I not realizing it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jet-Ubwk5l8

The Times of Harvey Milk (Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Freidman, 1984)

In...

Soul power premiers at is released theatrically in the UK on the 10th July 209 Glastonbury festival 2:30am Friday (Saterday morning)

"In 1974, the most celebrated American R&B acts of the time came together with the most renowned musical groups in Southern Africa for a 12-hour, three-night long concert held in Kinshasa, Zaire. The pipe dream of musician Hugh Masekela and producer Stewart Levine, this music festival became a reality when they convinced boxing promoter Don King to combine the event with “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the epic fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, previously chronicled in the Academy Award winning documentary “When We Were Kings.”

Soul Power is a verité documentary, entirely composed of footage shot in 1974 at the legendary music festival (dubbed “Zaire ’74”). It shows the experiences and performances of such musical luminaries as James Brown, Bb King, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz, Miriam Makeba, among a host of others.

• My earliest memory of Dave Chappelle is from his annoying portrayal of Tom Hanks’ best friend in You’ve Got Mail. I found him kinda really super annoying. But, like several of my hairy infected back moles, he started to grow on me. I’ve seen his show only a handful of times, and while it is funny for the most part, I still feel it suffers from what all other variety shows of its kind suffer from (like Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and Antiques Roadshow), it’s inconsistently funny. You either laugh ‘til it hurts or keep flipping over to see that hot chick on the Weather Channel. So that’s why, be it George Carlin or Chappelle, stick to their stand-up routines. And judging from the trailer to Block Party, he should deliver in spades. Inspired by Wattstax, the 1973 documentary about African-American funk and soul singers such

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Comedy legend Richard Pryor died of a heart attack on Saturday, nine days after celebrating his 65th birthday. The funnyman's wife, Jennifer, has confirmed his passing, revealing she tried to resuscitate him at their home in Encino, California. Pryor had been fighting degenerative nervous system disease multiple sclerosis for the past 20 years. Fans began gathering at his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles soon after hearing the sad news yesterday. Pryor starred in a number of hit comedy movies like Stir Crazy, Brewster's Millions and Car Wash, but he really shone as a standup comedian, often poking fun at race issues and his own well-publicized drug problems. Pryor, who was married seven times and fathered seven children, grew up in a brothel in Illinois, run by his grandmother. He started his comedy career as a touring stand-up in the 1960s and quickly became a cult act. He won several Grammy Awards for his comedy albums and went on to influence many of today's top comedians. As well as his most obvious movie hits, listed above, Pryor also appeared in Superman III in 1983 and The Muppet Movie in 1979. He also starred in innovative musical documentary Wattstax. In paying tribute to Pryor yesterday, movie-maker Spike Lee said, "He was an innovator and a trailblazer. It's a great loss."...