Michael Carabello

This lively and intimately-crafted documentary immerses the audience in rock icon Carlos Santana's life and musical trajectory. Filmmaker Rudy Valdez bolsters this personal narrative with pulsating, never-before-seen footage — guided by Santana himself, in his own words.

Believe it or not, there almost was a feature film about the 1969 Texas International Pop Festival which, just like the one-and-only Woodstock concerts held two weeks earlier, had its entirety preserved both on film and reel-to-reel tape. However, unlike the legendary documentation of the New York festivities that dominated big screens worldwide the following summer, the Lone Star State’s contribution to classic-rock cinema never made it past the very-rough-cut stage. Thankfully, though, this feature- length “workprint” of the film is now available for a fantastic peek at what might have been.