Producer Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, while editing the Oscar-winning film 'When We Were Kings,' took note of the hundreds of hours of footage not being used. It's that footage -- which documents the musical concert that was also a part of the 1974 'Rumble in the Jungle' heavyweight championship boxing fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire -- that's now become his directorial debut film, 'Soul Power.'

"I knew there was this amazing repository," Levy-Hinte tells Spinner. "If it wasn't made into a film it would essentially be unwritten history."

The film, beautifully edited and digitized, features performances by James Brown, B.B. King, Celia Cruz and Miriam Makeba, among others, as well as a few shots of the notorious Don King, who promoted both the fight and the concert. But it's not just a concert movie. It's a film that highlights the event's evolution, African culture and the importance of music -- soul music.

"Who is James Brown?" Levy-Hinte asks rhetorically. "He's this magnetic superstar. Who is Muhammad Ali? He's the guy that tells you exactly how it is."

Levy-Hinte began working on 'Soul Power' two-and-a-half years ago. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in early September to good reviews. European distribution has already been finalized and Levy-Hinte expects the film to show in the U.S. next year.

Levy-Hinte says Barack Obama's rise may have encouraged him to finish the film quickly. "This is a racialized film," he says, adding that he believes Obama's campaign has underplayed race. "It's extremely difficult to overcome people's bias."