AWARDS

Morgan Freeman Presents Peabody Award to Documentary Film ‘Mr. Soul!’ (Exclusive)

“'Soul!' is a love letter to Black culture, to Black love, to Black joy and to Black lives,” said the documentary's director, speaking of the original series.

By Paul Grein

June 6, 2022

In presenting a Peabody Award to Mr. Soul!, the acclaimed documentary about the 1968-73 TV series Soul!, actor Morgan Freeman touched on the reasons the original series was so ground-breaking.

“During its five-year run, it was a celebration of the majesty, the confidence and the revolutionary force of Black artists and intellectuals, writers and performers,” Freeman said, in a virtual presentation. “It was uncompromisingly and unapologetically Black. And this gem of a show gets the spotlight it deserves in Melissa Haizlip’s documentary, Mr. Soul! Her film offers an enviable range of Black creative expression and stresses how the original show served as a soundtrack of Black Americans at their most radical.”

Haizlip, the documentary’s producer, writer and director, dedicated the award to her uncle, Ellis Haizlip, who was the original show’s creator, producer and host.

“Ellis Haizlip was an extraordinary producer, always pushing the culture forward with light and love and we wanted to do the same thing with this film,” she said, in a virtual acceptance. “…Soul! is a love letter to Black culture, to Black love, to Black joy and to Black lives. Now more than ever, we need a voice like Ellis Haizlip to help restore the soul of a nation.”

Haizlip also thanked three of her executive producers – producer and director Stan Lathan, who took over as director of the series in 1970; attorney Chaz Ebert and actor Blair Underwood.

Underwood provided the voice of Ellis Haizlip, reading from interviews, news articles, correspondence and journal entries. Ellis Haizlip died of cancer in 1991, at age 61.

Soul! premiered on WNDT (later known as WNET), the NET and PBS outlet in New York, on Sept. 12, 1968. That was three years before Don Cornelius’ Soul Train launched in syndication (on Oct. 2, 1971). While both shows presented top Black music acts, Soul! also presented figures from the worlds of poetry, literature and the Black Arts Movement.

Non-musicians who appeared on the program included heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, minister-turned-politician Jesse Jackson, actor Sidney Poitier, and activist Kathleen Cleaver, wife of Eldridge Cleaver, an early leader of the Black Panther Party.

The premier broadcast of Soul! featured singer Barbara Acklin, Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles, actress-singer Novella Nelson, Billy Taylor, The Vibrations, gospel musician Pearl Williams Jones, and comedian Irwin C. Watson.

The original co-hosts on that premier show were Alvin Poussaint, the noted Harvard psychologist, and educator Loretta Long, who one year later assumed the role of Susan Robinson on Sesame Street. Ellis Haizlip replaced Poussaint as co-host on Oct. 24, 1968. Haizlip became the show’s sole host on Dec. 5, 1968. (Poet Nikki Giovanni was also a frequent host.)

While the show aired locally when it started, it soon spread across the country. By 1970, it was carried by 72 public television stations. The show ran through March 7, 1973.

The doc includes a clip of Ellis Haizlip speaking about the show he created. In that clip, he says, “But because I hadn’t seen enough images of myself, I watched. Lo-and-behold, I saw Wilson Pickett, The Last Poets, was introduced to Barbara Ann Teer, Billy Preston, Stevie Wonder, Nikki Giovanni, Al Green; experienced Bill Withers and Amiri Baraka. There exists, as far as I know, no TV program that deals with my culture so completely, so freely and so beautifully. There is no alternative to soul.”

The documentary includes archival footage from the series, including interviews with Baraka, Poitier, Ali, Harry Belafonte and James Baldwin, among others, as well as performances from such artists as Green, Wonder, LaBelle, The Last Poets, Ashford and Simpson, and Earth, Wind and Fire.

Four-time Grammy winner Robert Glasper provided the music for the doc. He and Lalah Hathaway co-wrote and performed the end title song, “Show Me Your Soul.” Muhammad Ayers and Melissa Haizlip were also co-writers of the song.

Mr. Soul! premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on April 22, 2018. The film was released in limited theaters and virtual cinemas on Aug. 28, 2020. The doc premiered on PBS on Feb. 22, 2021 and on HBO Max on Aug. 1, 2021.

The film was co-produced by Doug Blush and co-directed by Sam Pollard. Other executive producers, not already named, were record executive Ron Gillyard; producer Stephanie T. Rance; and Hillman Grad Productions’ founder Lena Waithe and CEO Rishi Rajani.

The 30 winners of the 82nd annual Peabody Awards will be named across major social media channels from Monday (June 6) through Thursday June 9 between 9:00 a.m. PT -10:30 a.m. PT on the following platforms:

Twitter:            @PeabodyAwards

Instagram:       @PeabodyAwards

Facebook:        Peabody Awards

Website:          https://peabodyawards.com/

Hashtags:         #PeabodyAwards #StoriesThatMatter

Peabody Awards are presented for television, podcast/radio, and immersive and interactive media in the categories of entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, and public service. Winners are chosen each year by a diverse board of jurors through unanimous vote. According to a mission statement: “The Peabody Awards shine a light on stories that matter and are a testament to the power of art and reportage in the push for truth, social justice, and equity.”

The Peabody Awards were founded in 1940 at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

Mr. SOUL! Filmmaker Gets GreenLight Women Grant — Film Briefs

By Matt Grobar

October 15, 2021 9:00am

EXCLUSIVE: Writer, director and producer Melissa Haizlip has been named as the recipient of GreenLight Women’s 2021 Filmmaker Grant, in recognition of her work on the award-winning documentary, Mr. Soul!.

Haizlip is the third recipient of the grant, honoring female filmmakers. GreenLight Women President Iris Grossman, of Echo Lake Entertainment, will present it to her at a virtual event taking place via Zoom—on the Eventive platform—on October 17, from 5-7 p.m. PDT.

At the event, which is free to attend, Haizlip will also participate in a panel moderated by BLACK GIRLS ROCK!’s Beverly Bond, which will feature an introduction by Blair Underwood (Quantico). Additional panelists will include Mr. Soul! EP Chaz Ebert and consulting producer Laurens Grant; five-time Grammy winner Lalah Hathaway, who penned the film’s Oscar-shortlisted theme song; documentary subjects Anna Maria Horsford and Thomas Allen Harris; Robert “Kool” Bell of Kool and the Gang; and WarnerMedia’s SVP of Equity and Inclusion, Karen Horne.

Haizlip’s documentary tells the story of her uncle Ellis, the producer and host of PBS’ groundbreaking series Soul!, which has been referred to as the first “Black Tonight Show,” airing between 1968 and 1973. Pic made its world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and was acquired for distribution by WarnerMedia in August of this year, subsequently becoming available for streaming on HBO Max.

Founded in 2016, GreenLight Women is a non-profit organization supporting and advocating for women in entertainment over the age of 40. To RSVP for its latest event, click here.

BEYOND THE ALGORITHM

By Jason Bailey

Sept. 22, 2021

MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

“The Suicide Squad,” “Reminiscence,” “Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union,” Season 3 of “Titans,” “Sweet Life: Los Angeles,” And “Hard Knocks: The Dallas Cowboys” Arrive On HBO Max This August

Coming to HBO Max

This August, sit back and relax with a phenomenal slate of new original series and blockbuster films on HBO Max.

From writer/director James Gunn comes Warner Bros. Pictures’ superhero action adventure “The Suicide Squad,” featuring a collection of the most degenerate delinquents in the DC lineup—including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn—who will do anything to get out of prison—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X on a do-or-die mission. 

August also brings action thriller “Reminiscence,” starring Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson and Thandiwe Newton. Nick Bannister (Jackman), a private investigator of the mind, navigates the darkly alluring world of the past by helping his clients access lost memories. Living on the fringes of the sunken Miami coast, his life is forever changed when he takes on a new client, Mae (Ferguson). A simple matter of lost and found becomes a dangerous obsession. Both Warner Bros. Pictures films will be available in theaters and on HBO Max the same day. Streaming only on the $14.99/month Ad-Free HBO Max plan for 31 days from their theatrical release.

In addition to “The Suicide Squad,” HBO Max delivers even more DC Universe content with season three of the popular superhero series “Titans,” following young heroes from across the DC Universe as they come of age and find where they belong. This month brings documentary “Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union,” “Furry Friends Forever: Elmo Gets A Puppy,” the premiere of the streetwear competition series “The Hype,” the new unscripted series from Issa Rae “Sweet Life: Los Angeles,” season two of “The Other Two,” which makes its transition from Comedy Central to HBO Max with all new episodes, documentary special “Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground,” andcomedy special “Marlon Wayans: You Know What It Is.” HBO Sports and NFL Films’ sports reality series “Hard Knocks: The Dallas Cowboys” debuts in the month, with an unfiltered all-access look at what it takes to make it in the National Football League. The weekly companion podcast, The Hard Knocks Podcast, hosted by NFL Network’s Good Morning Football co-host Peter Schrager, will present a new edition for five consecutive weeks and take fans behind the scenes breaking down each episode with former players, analysts, and people on the ground at the Dallas Cowboys training camp right now.

A-list films including the “Jurassic Park” trilogy, “Magic Mike XXL,” “Inception,” “Malcolm X,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Requiem for a Dream,” and the “Sex and the City” movie all debut in the month. Additional titles debuting include sitcom “A Different World” and documentary “Betrayal at Attica.”

TITLES COMING TO HBO MAX IN AUGUST

August 1:

2 Days in the Valley, 1996 (HBO)

9/11: Fifteen Years Later, 2016

A Mighty Wind, 2003 (HBO)

A Walk Among the Tombstones, 2014 (HBO)

The Accidental Spy, 2002 (HBO)

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, 2005 (HBO)

Americano, 2017 (HBO)

Anna to the Infinite Power, 1982 (HBO)

Backtrack, 2016 (HBO)

Basic Instinct, 1992 (HBO)

Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction, 2006 (HBO) (Extended Version)

Best in Show, 2000 (HBO)

Betrayal at Attica, 2021 

• On September 13, 1971 the State of New York shot and killed 39 of its own citizens, injured hundreds more, and tortured the survivors. The plan to retake D Yard led to one of the bloodiest days in American history, and set the stage for the worst aspects of modern policing. Radical lawyer Elizabeth Fink tells the story of the Attica prison rebellion, and how she exposed the cover up that went on for decades.

The Betrayed, 2008 (HBO)

The Birdcage, 1996 (HBO)

Black Death, 2010 (HBO)

Blue Ruin, 2014 (HBO)

Brown Sugar, 2002 (HBO)

Changeling, 2008 (HBO)

Chasing Mavericks, 2012 (HBO)

Collateral, 2004 (HBO)

Constantine, 2005

Deep Cover, 1992 (HBO)

The Devil's Double, 2011 (HBO)

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 1988 (HBO)

Dolphin Tale, 2011 (HBO)

The Double, 2014 (HBO)

Empire of the Sun, 1987

The End, 1978 (HBO)

Envy, 2004 (HBO)

Epic, 2013 (HBO)

Extranjero (aka Foreigner), 2018 (HBO)

For Your Consideration, 2006 (HBO)

Freejack, 1992 (HBO)

The Fugitive, 1993

Ghosts of Mississippi, 1996

The Great Gatsby, 1974 (HBO)

The Great Gatsby, 2013 (HBO)

Gun Shy, 2017 (HBO)

Hangman, 2017 (HBO)

Heaven Can Wait, 1978 (HBO)

Hitchcock, 2012 (HBO)

Horror of Dracula, 1958

How to Deal, 2003 (HBO)

Hudson Hawk, 1991

Humpday, 2009 (HBO)

Imperium, 2016 (HBO)

Inception, 2010

Joe, 2014 (HBO)

Johnny English Reborn, 2011 (HBO)

Julia, 2009 (HBO)

Last Action Hero, 1993

The Lincoln Lawyer, 2011

Malcolm X, 1992

Man Down, 2016 (HBO)

The Man in the Iron Mask, 1998 (HBO)

Mean Streets, 1973

Mr. Soul!, 2018 - new date: August 22

New in Town, 2009 (HBO)

Nobody Walks, 2012 (HBO)

Nurse 3D, 2013 (HBO)

One Hour Photo, 2002 (HBO)

The Out-of-Towners, 1999 (HBO)

Popeye, 1980 (HBO)

The Pope of Greenwich Village, 1984 (HBO)

The Prince, 2014 (HBO)

The Reader, 2008 (HBO)

Red, 2008 (HBO)

Red Riding Hood, 2011

Requiem for a Dream, 2000

Scary Movie, 2000

The Score, 2001 (HBO)

Sex and the City, 2008

Sex and the City 2, 2010

The Shawshank Redemption, 1994

Spawn, 1997

The Spirit, 2008 (HBO)

The Square, 2017 (HBO)

Stand and Deliver, 1988 (HBO)

Tango & Cash, 1989

Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, 2006

Thirteen Ghosts, 2001

Vice, 2015 (HBO)

War, 2007 (HBO)

Woodstock (Director's Cut), 1994

You've Got Mail, 1998

Mr. Soul! Wins Early Award for Outstanding Writing in a Documentary at the 52nd NAACP Image Awards, Airing March 27th

The Editors March 24, 2021

Congratulations to Melissa Haizlip and her documentary "Mr. Soul!" for winning the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture), one of several categories in which the winner was announced prior to the ceremony's telecast set to air on BET at 7pm CT on Saturday, March 27th. 

The film was also nominated for Outstanding Documentary (Film) and is still nominated for Outstanding Breakthrough Creative (Motion Picture) at the 52nd NAACP Image Awards. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is the largest and most pre-eminent civil rights organization in the nation. They have over 2,200 units and branches across the nation, along with well over two million advocates. Their mission is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.

Other early winners announced on March 22nd include Dawn Porter's "John Lewis: Good Trouble" (Outstanding Documentary—Film), Jason Hehir's "The Last Dance" (Outstanding Documentary—Television or Motion Picture), Keith McQuirter's "By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem" (Outstanding Directing in a Documentary—Television or Motion Picture), Walter Mosley's The Awkward Black Man (Outstanding Literary Work—Fiction). Former President Barack Obama's A Promised Land won Outstanding Literary Work—Nonfiction. You can find the full list of nominees and other early winners here.

The film "Mr. Soul!" chronicles the legacy of "SOUL!", the public television variety show produced and hosted by Ellis Haizlip (the director's uncle) that turned a spotlight on the Black Arts Movement. Enhancing the picture are music composed by Grammy-winner Robert Glasper as well as narration from Blair Underwood, who also serves as one of the film’s executive producers. During a time period when African-Americans were not routinely featured prominently on television except in negative stereotypes, this program blazed new trails for representation during its run from 1968 through 1973.

In his four-star review of the film published on this site, our critic Glenn Kenny wrote that "the clips from the show—and seriously, can someone assemble the entire series and get it on streaming, or physical media somehow—reveal it as a phantasmagoria of Black excellence." The film recently premiered nationwide on Independent Lens, PBS during Black History Month and is streaming on the PBS app.

"Making the film helped us illuminate the groundbreaking cultural work of the man behind one of the most successful and socially significant Black-produced television shows in US history," said director Haizlip. "We're beyond honored for the acknowledgements and excited about any nominations that will serve as a way of introducing the film, the music, and Ellis Haizlip to the world. 'SOUL!' is the greatest show you've never heard of. And up until now, Ellis Haizlip has been an unsung hero. We hope our film 'Mr. SOUL!' and the music it celebrates will help to change that."

NOTE: Chaz Ebert is also an executive producer of the film.

NAACP Image Awards Winners List: ‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’, ‘The Last Dance’ And ‘Mr. Soul!’ Among Early Winners

Lam David

The 52nd NAACP Image Awards kicked off today with the virtual announcement of their first batch of winners. The awards ceremony will culminate on March 27 with a live simulcast across ViacomCBS Networks which will include BET, CBS, MTV, VH1, MTV2, BET HER and LOGO. Each day in between, the Image Awards will reveal winners from the non-televised award categories. 

The first set of awards revealed on Tuesday night included numerous literary awards including Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land” for Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction. As for trophies for TV and feature documentaries, Dawn Porter’s John Lewis: Good Trouble won on the film side for Outstanding Documentary. The critically acclaimed Michael Jordan docuseries The Last Dance took the Image Award for Outstanding Documentary (Television – Series or Special) while Melissa Haizlip’s Mr. SOUL! was honored for Outstanding Writing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture) for its deep dive into the first nationally broadcast all-Black variety show on public television. In addition, Keith McQuirter’s By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem won Outstanding Directing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture).

The Image Awards also handed out special awards to Madison Potts for Youth Activist of the Year and Reverend Dr. Wendell Anthony was honored with Activist of the Year.

The NAACP Image Awards honors the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature, and film and also recognizes individuals or groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors.

Read the winners of the first night of the NAACP Image Awards below and return as we update the robust winners list through March 27.

March 22 Winners

Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction
“The Awkward Black Man” – Walter Mosley

Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction
“A Promised Land” – Barack Obama

Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author
“We’re Better Than This” – Elijah Cummings

 Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography
“The Dead Are Arising” – Les Payne, Tamara Payne

Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional
“Vegetable Kingdom” – Bryant Terry

Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry
“The Age of Phillis” – Honorée Jeffers

Outstanding Literary Work – Children
“She Was the First!: The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm” – Katheryn Russell-Brown, Eric Velasquez

Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens
“Before the Ever After” – Jacqueline Woodson

Outstanding Directing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture)
Keith McQuirter – “By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem”

Outstanding Writing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture)
Melissa Haizlip – “Mr. SOUL!”

Outstanding Documentary (Film)
“John Lewis: Good Trouble”

Outstanding Documentary (Television – Series or Special)
“The Last Dance”

Special Award – Youth Activist of the Year
Madison Potts

Special Award – Activist of the Year
Reverend Dr. Wendell Anthony

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MUSIC NEWS

Feb 9, 2021 3:00pm PT

Songs From Black Films Dominate as Oscar Music Shortlists Are Released

The oft-nominated Diane Warren will contend again with two songs making the cut.

By Jon Burlingame

The shortlists for the Academy Awards’ two music categories are out, and while there are few surprises among  the 375-member music branch’s 15 choices for best original score, there’s a remarkable shift in the original song category: Nearly half of the 15 songs on that list emerged from narrative films or documentaries whose casts or subjects were predominantly Black.

Most of these songs had already been tagged as leading contenders, even though it was hardly a certainty they’d all make the shortlist. Among them: Janelle Monae’s “Turntables” from the voter-suppression doc “All In: The Fight for Democracy,” Mary J. Blige’s “See What You’ve Done” from the prison-sterilization documentary “Belly of the Beast,” John Legend’s “Never Break” from the young-actor doc “Giving Voice,” Leslie Odom Jr.’s “Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami,” H.E.R.’s “Fight for You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah” and Celeste’s “Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7” all made it.

Joining them was the biggest surprise of this batch: Lalah Hathaway’s song “Show Me Your Soul” from the “Mr. Soul!” documentary (about the PBS series “Soul!”) made the list. A minor surprise was the choice of “Make It Work,” sung by Anika Noni Rose and Forest Whitaker in the holiday musical “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey.”

The complete lists, as released today by Academy officials:

Original Song:

“Turntables” from “All In: The Fight for Democracy”

“See What You’ve Done” from “Belly of the Beast”

“Wuhan Flu” from “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”

“Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”

“Never Break” from “Giving Voice”

“Make It Work” from “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey”

“Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”

“lo Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”

“Rain Song” from “Minari”

“Show Me Your Soul” from “Mr. Soul!”

“Loyal Brave True” from “Mulan”

“Free” from “The One and Only Ivan”

“Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami…”

“Green” from “Sound of Metal”

“Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

93RD OSCARS® SHORTLISTS IN NINE AWARD CATEGORIES ANNOUNCED

Posted:

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 - 15:00

Posted:

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 - 15:00

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced shortlists in nine categories for the 93rd Academy Awards®: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, International Feature Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song), Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film and Visual Effects.  Download shortlists by category here.

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
Fifteen songs will advance in the Original Song category for the 93rd Academy Awards.  One hundred five songs were eligible in the category.  Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film title and song title:

“Turntables” from “All In: The Fight for Democracy”
“See What You’ve Done” from “Belly of the Beast”
“Wuhan Flu” from “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
“Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”
“Never Break” from “Giving Voice”
“Make It Work” from “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey”
“Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”
“lo Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”
“Rain Song” from “Minari”
“Show Me Your Soul” from “Mr. Soul!”
“Loyal Brave True” from “Mulan”
“Free” from “The One and Only Ivan”
“Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami...”
“Green” from “Sound of Metal”
“Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

2020: Banner Year For Black Women Directors

By Wilson Morales

December 30, 2020

Despite COVID-19 forcing the shutdown of movie theaters nationwide, with limited capacity in others, and major studios scrambling to reschedule some of their big-budgeted films to 2021, it was still a record year for Black filmmakers especially Black Women Directors.

Not too long ago the number of theatrical releases by Black Women directors could be counted with two hands. In 2017, there were seven films and then that was considered a breaking record. Three years later, there were more than 15 films including features and documentaries that secured distribution deals that were shown in select theaters, virtual cinemas or via streaming platform.

Thanks to a worldwide pandemic, box-office receipts are at an all-time low and have leveled the playing field for studios and independent companies. Pre-COVID, independent films wouldn’t compete with the likes of a Tenet, Croods or Wonder Woman 1984, as these films would have dominated the big-screens.

This year things have changed the course of visibility for Black Women Directors and their works. It has always been a struggle to have their films viewed, screened at a festival and eventually selected to be shared with a wider audience. With the exception of Janizca Bravo’s Zola, all of the seven Sundance Film Festival submissions from BWDs in 2020 were acquired and released this year. Not to mention three of the top jury prizes at that festival were presented to Black women (Radha Blank, Garrett Bradley and Maïmouna Doucouré). Blank’s The 40-Year-Old Version won U.S. Dramatic competition prize. Bradley’s Time won in the U.S. Documentary competition and Doucouré’s Cuties won in the World Cinema Dramatic competition.

Bradley and Blank also received nominations for the upcoming Gotham Awards while Melissa Haizlip received the Critics Choice Award for Best First Documentary Feature for her film Mr. SOUL!

In speaking with Numa Perrier, who was the first Black woman director to have a film released in 2020 with Array’s Jezebel on Netflix, she stated the following: "In my career in Hollywood, for Black women, it's just been tremendous. You've got Channing Godfrey Peoples with Miss Juneteenth. You've got Radha Blank with 40-Year-Old-Version. The films that have come out this year are classics. They are films I've watched numerous times and that’s not something that I do...So this has been an extraordinary year. This fake ass totem pole of Hollywood is crumbling. That's one gift that this year of Black cinema has given us. The sky's the limit from here. We're very emboldened now. I really feel like the momentum is in a great place right now and we're not going to let it slow down.”

While this is a banner year, let’s hope that distribution deals for Black Women Directors don’t die with the pandemic. And while we have a come a long way since the days of Julie Dash, with immense talents such as Ava DuVernay, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Dee Rees and Amma Asante keeping the door open, there needs to be more to break it off its hinge.

Here’s a list of 2020 films from Black Women Directors

Jezebel - NUMA PERRIER - Netflix (Jan. 16)

The Photograph - STELLA MEGHIE - Universal (Feb. 14)

The Last Thing He Wanted - DEE REES - Netflix (Feb. 21)

Selah and the Spades - TAYARISHA POE - Amazon (April 17)

Becoming - NADIA HALLGREN - Netflix (May 6)

(In)visible Portraits - OGE EGBOUNU - Virtual Cinemas (June 19)

Miss Juneteenth - CHANNING GODREY PEOPLES - Vertical Entertainment (June 19)

John Lewis: Good Trouble - DAWN PORTER - Magnolia (July 3)

The Old Guard - GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD - Netflix (July 10)

The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion - LISA CORTES and Farah Khalid (July 22)

Seriously Single - Katleho Ramaphakela, RETHABILE RAMAPHAKELA - Netflix (July 31)

Mr. SOUL! - MELISSA HAIZLIP - Virtual Cinemas (August 28)

All In: The Fight For Democracy - LISA CORTES and Liz Garbus - Amazon (Sept. 9)

Cuties - MAIMOUNA DOUCOURE - Netflix (Sept. 9)

The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show - YORUBA RICHEN - Peacock (Sept. 10)

The Way I See It - DAWN PORTER - Focus Features (Sept. 18)

A Long Song For Latasha - SOPHIA NAHLI ALLISON - Netflix (Sept. 21)

The 40-Year-Version - RADHA BLANK - Netflix (Oct. 9)

Time - GARRETT BRADLEY - Amazon (Oct.9)

No Ordinary Love - CHYNA ROBINSON - Drive-In (Oct. 24)

Farewell Amor- EKWA MSANGI - IFC Films (Dec. 11)

Through The Night - LOIRA LIMBAL - Virtual Cinemas (Dec. 11)

One Night In Miami - REGINA KING - Amazon (Dec. 25) 

‘Mr. Soul!’ Review: An Oscar-Buzz Documentary Looks Back at a Thrilling, and Revolutionary, Slice of Black American Television History

Ellis Haizlip, the creator and unlikely host of "Soul!," is at the heart of a singular and captivating documentary.

By Owen Gleiberman

December 15, 2020

In 1970, Gil Scott-Heron recorded his famous poem-song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” But that anthemic line, as forceful as it was, has been proved wrong time and again. Two years earlier, starting on Sept. 12, 1968, the revolution was televised, in a captivating and astounding way.

“Mr. Soul!” is a documentary that’s been gathering steam and generating Oscar buzz, and when you see it (which you really should), you’ll know why. The entire film tells the story of a TV program, one that was rich, fearless, eye-opening, and bold enough to stir up the culture. It was called “Soul!,” and staking out its turf on WNET in New York, it was the first Black variety show on American television. That alone made it a landmark. But “Soul!,” as orchestrated by its creator, executive producer, and host, the awesomely unlikely TV personality Ellis Haizlip, was no cautious groundbreaker. It was an electrifying popular-music showcase, an avant funk coffeehouse, a high cathedral of poetry and dance, and a deadly serious talkfest. It was a living-room party that was also a weekly insurrection.

When you hear about the roster of musical guests who appeared on it — Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, the Delfonics, the raw young Earth, Wind & Fire, and on and on — you may think, “Okay, I get it. It was the PBS ‘Soul Train’.” That aspect is undeniably there, and it was enough to make the show an intoxicating hit. Yet “Soul!” was more than a heady live R&B jamboree. It mixed in authors and political figures and poets of the most incendiary kind. In one clip, we see a scalding performance by the Last Poets of a work called “Die, N——a!!!” that invokes the deaths of Medgar Evans, Emmett Till, and others and ends with the lacerating line “Die, n——s! So Black folks can take over!” This was in-your-face, it was risky, it was combustible, it was a shock to the system.

That “Soul!” was usually live gave it an immediacy not associated with the words “public television.” The show couldn’t be interrupted or censored. The musical performers headed where they wanted (Stevie Wonder did a rendition of “Superstition” that went on and on, building and building), in marked contrast to “Soul Train,” which debuted three years later and, as great as it was, basically presented a parade of star acts lip-syncing to their latest hits. “Soul!” arrived on the cutting edge of a Black cultural renaissance, and it broadcast the waves of that movement in all their fervor and radical pride.

“Mr. Soul!” sets up the chilling context for it. In the late ’60s, African Americans were all but invisible on national television, except for on the news media, where they were usually depicted in a negative light. The news programs tended to show riots, poverty, and garbage-strewn streets. Ellis Haizlip saw something different: a universe of Black art and life blooming all over America.

Yet Haizlip, who put “Soul!” together with the producer Christopher Lukas (Haizlip came up with the name; Lukas added the exclamation point), and is the real subject of the documentary, unleashed all this upon the public with ineffable cunning. Haizlip wasn’t someone who was put on earth to be on TV. He was a producer, with roots in the theater, who agreed to host the show only as a last-ditch plan when none of its original hosts (like the Harvard psychiatry professor Dr. Alvin Poussaint) panned out.

With his horn-rims and long mustache, Haizlip looked like Shaft’s accountant brother, and he had the air of a professor with a sly, recessive cat-like deadpan. He spoke in a rarefied, whimsical, but never overly academic way that allowed him to stand apart from the proceedings and, at the same time, to invent his very own only-on-PBS anti-TV-star aura; he presided over the show like Don Cornelius as a scholarly cocktail host. That Haizlip was gay was, in a sense, incidental to his achievement. Yet beneath his gracious calm façade, his identity as an out and open gay man before Stonewall gave him a silent core of militancy. He was going to stay true to his mission, and he did it with such slicing directness that no one knew what hit them.

“Mr. Soul!” was written and directed by Melissa Haizlip, who is Ellis’s niece, and it pays touching tribute to him as a stealth cultural crusader. But the movie also showcases “Soul!” as a chapter of television history — and Black history — that will be unknown to many, and the sense of discovery that courses through the film is like a tonic. The movie seems to be saying: Wasn’t that a time! It surely was, though it took someone with a unique spirit to bring so many visionary artists to one place and filter them through the mass medium of television.

TV talk and variety shows from decades ago are among our greatest cultural time capsules. To watch a “Tonight Show” from the ’60s, a “Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour” from the ’70s, a “Phil Donahue Show” from the ’80s, or an “Arsenio Hall Show” from the ’90s is to dive back into a moment, to catch the elusive vibe of a time. Some of us can consume endless hours of this stuff, and in “Mr. Soul!,” the clips from “Soul!” exert a thrilling fascination, to the point that you wish you could just plunge in and watch every episode. There are extraordinary clips of B.B. King ripping it up, Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson performing for the first time (it was Haizlip’s idea to have them come out from the shadow of their identities as songwriters, and that segment launched their second career), James Baldwin letting down his hipster hair in a two-hour interview with the poet Nikki Giovanni, Al Green singing in a way where he almost seems to be apologizing for how sexy he is, Amiri Baraka reading a furious poem in which he excoriates drug dealers who “put shit in your arm and your mama’s tears,” and Wilson Pickett and Marion Williams teaming up for a rendition of “Oh Happy Day” that transforms the studio audience into a gospel revival meeting.

The television historian Robert J. Thompson claims that “for all its mellow presentation, this was blowing the lid off the generic expectations of American television.” Haizlip, says Felipe Luciano of the Last Poets, “already knew that Black culture was world culture.” The poet Sonia Sanchez says, “What he was doing, every night he was on that program, was changing someone’s mind about Black folks.” Yet it was part of Haizlip’s quiet strategy to underplay the stirring of the pot. He took what looked, on the surface, like a staid PBS niche and turned it into a call to arms, a call to Black cultural force and sway.

The show lasted five years, during which it lived and thrived, becoming a beacon for African Americans. And then it faded out? Not quite. It was, in essence, killed by the Nixon administration, which was growing tired of what it saw as liberal media subversion. Emboldened by his top-heavy victory in the 1972 election, Nixon spearheaded a drive to crack down on PBS, tamping down on the funding, and “Soul!” was a casualty of that crusade. Haizlip didn’t try to fight it. He was very zen about the end of his show; he thought if its time was over, then so be it. (He continued to promote African American culture and died in 1991.)

But the movie sees it differently. “Soul!,” as the film’s fantastic closing montage expresses, was a show that lit countless small fires in the hearts and minds of African Americans (and probably more than a few white folks). Questlove, speaking near the end of the documentary, hails the show as “true Black power, right there.” He adds, “Today, some 50 years later, can you imagine what ‘Soul!’ would have been like for a 20-year run? Like, how different would our lives have been?” “Mr. Soul!” is an enthralling testament to a show that was so far ahead of its time it now looks like a bulletin. One that hasn’t aged a day.

Mr. Soul! Nominated for Outstanding Debut Feature at Cinema Eye Honors

By The Editors

December 12, 2020

Melissa Haizlip's award-winning documentary, "Mr. Soul!", has now been nominated for Outstanding Debut Feature at the Cinema Eye Honors. According to the awards group, which has been annual honoring nonfiction work since 2007, over 65% of its nominees this year are first-timers. "Women filmmakers and craftspersons made up 44% of today’s announcements, a record for Cinema Eye, and female directors scored more nominations overall than their male counterparts across all categories for the first time," revealed Cinema Eye in an official statement. The awards ceremony will be held virtually on March 9th, 2021.

The film chronicles the legacy of "SOUL!", the public television variety show produced and hosted by Ellis Haizlip (the director's uncle) that turned a spotlight on the Black Arts Movement. Enhancing the picture are music composed by Grammy-winner Robert Glasper as well as narration from Blair Underwood, who also serves as one of the film’s executive producers. In his four-star review of the film published on this site, our critic Glenn Kenny wrote that "the clips from the show—and seriously, can someone assemble the entire series and get it on streaming, or physical media somehow—reveal it as a phantasmagoria of Black excellence."

Representatives of the Black Arts Movement who appeared on the show were timeless talents the likes of Sidney Poitier, The Last Poets, Gladys Knight, Alvin Ailey Dance Troupe, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Al Green, Muhammad Ali, Cicely Tyson, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, Ashford and Simpson, Roberta Flack, Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, Billy Preston, Black Ivory, The Delfonics, Bill Withers, Nikki Giovanni, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Sonia Sanchez, Wilson Pickett, Odetta, Merry Clayton, Mandrill, Kool and the Gang, Toni Morrison, Kathleen Cleaver, Betty Shabazz, Stokely Carmichael, Mrs. George Jackson, George Faison and Patti Labelle. During a time period when African-Americans were not routinely featured prominently on television except in negative stereotypes, this program blazed new trails for representation during its run from 1968 through 1973.

The film's distributors Shoes In The Bed Productions and Open Your Eyes & Think MF are proud to announce the continuing virtual cinema release in over 30+ cinemas celebrating its fourth month in release (for a full list of showtimes, click here). This September also marked the 52nd anniversary of the premiere episode of SOUL! on September 12, 1968. From that day forward, Ellis Haizlip and his inclusive crew of Black and mostly women producers, directors, crew and guest artists made history every week. And now, through this film, Ellis still continues to inspire and instill pride into new generations of fans. As he states in the film, "Black seeds keep on growing," the time is now, and is most important.

"It's been beautiful to see and hear from viewers around the nation who are both entertained and uplifted by our film, as well as surprised and inspired as they discover 'Mr. SOUL!'," said director Haizlip. "Sharing my uncle's story and the legacy of his groundbreaking show is super important right now. As we head into our fourth month of streaming, what an incredible gift -- it allows more people in this pivotal moment to discover Ellis Haizlip's life and the impact that 'SOUL!' had on our country, then and now. Ellis Haizlip is really an unsung hero whose voice we need now more than ever, to help restore the SOUL of a nation. And now, for our film about his work to be recognized with this Cinema Eye Honors nomination, I am beyond humbled and grateful for this incredible honor, Cinema Eye is the most discerning of all the nonfiction awards, so this nomination bears extra weight, and I'm so happy for our team. This continues to be an amazing journey for the film."

Melissa Haizlip is a dynamic emerging filmmaker who has earned many accolades for her films, including the Chaz and Roger Ebert Producing Fellowship through PROJECT INVOLVE at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. “Mr. SOUL!” won the Best Music Documentary at the IDA Documentary Awards, the Best Feature Documentary at the Pan African Film & Arts Festival, the Audience Award for Best Feature at the AFI DOCS Film Festival in Washington, D.C., the Audience Award at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, the Meta Award at the Dallas Videofest/Docufest and made a splash at the BFI London Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival. 

Upcoming screenings for "Mr. Soul!" include a watch party and virtual Q&A with The Museum of Tolerance on Tuesday, December 29th, at 6pm CT, and a virtual Q&A with the African Diaspora Film Club at MoAD on Sunday, January 10th, at 7pm CT, where Haizlip will be in conversation with California Newsreel co-director/MoAD film series curator Cornelius Moore. In the video embedded below, you can watch the historic Q&A held on December 2nd, "Film Independent Presents: Mr. Soul!", hosted by Emmy Award-winning writer, producer, creator and actor, Lena Waithe.

‘Dick Johnson Is Dead’ Wins Best Feature at Critics Choice Documentary Awards

By Jordan Moreau

The fifth annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards announced the 2020 winners Monday morning, honoring “Dick Johnson Is Dead” for best documentary feature as well as the film’s Kirsten Johnson for best director.

The film focuses on Richard Johnson, the director’s father, who suffers from dementia and imagines different ways in which he could die with a darkly comedic tone. The film premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and won the special jury award for innovation in non-fiction storytelling.

“My Octopus Teacher” took home two awards for best cinematography and best science/nature documentary.

Like most award shows this year, the Critics Choice Doc Awards had to go virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We couldn’t be more excited about being able to celebrate such a diverse group of films and filmmakers and subjects this year of all years, on the fifth occasion of the CCDAs, and with 2020 being what it is,” said Christopher Campbell, president of the Critics Choice Association Documentary Branch. “The world needs this variety of storytelling now more than ever, and all of these documentaries moved us in unique ways. We are proud that we could still support these films and share the best of the best with nonfiction fans. Our only regret is that we couldn’t do so while also honoring the talented artists and their incredible work in person.”

The 2021 Critics Choice Awards will be held live on March 7, 2021, on The CW with host Taye Diggs.

See the full list of winners below:

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Dick Johnson is Dead (Netflix)

BEST DIRECTOR: Kirsten Johnson, Dick Johnson is Dead (Netflix)

BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Melissa Haizlip, Mr. SOUL! (Shoes in the Bed Productions)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger Horrocks, My Octopus Teacher (Netflix)

BEST EDITING: Lindy Jankura, Alexis Johnson and Alex Keipper, Totally Under Control (Neon)

BEST SCORE: Marco Beltrami, Brandon Roberts and Buck Sanders, The Way I See It (Focus Features)

BEST NARRATION: David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (Netflix); David Attenborough, narrator and writer

BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY: MLK/FBI (Field of Vision/IFC Films)

BEST HISTORICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY: John Lewis: Good Trouble (Magnolia Pictures/Participant)

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY: (TIE) Beastie Boys Story (Apple); The Go-Go’s (Showtime)

BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY: Boys State (Apple)

BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY: My Octopus Teacher (Netflix)

BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY: (TIE) Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes (HBO); Athlete A (Netflix)

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY: St. Louis Superman (MTV Documentary Films)

MOST COMPELLING LIVING SUBJECTS OF A DOCUMENTARY (HONOR):

Dr. Rick Bright – Totally Under Control (Neon)
Steven Garza – Boys State (Apple)
The Go-Go’s – The Go-Go’s (Showtime)
Judith Heumann – Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (Netflix)
Dick Johnson – Dick Johnson is Dead (Netflix) Maggie Nichols, Rachael Denhollander, Jamie Dantzscher – Athlete A (Netflix)
Fox Rich – Time (Amazon)
Pete Souza – The Way I See It (Focus Features)
Taylor Swift – Miss Americana (Netflix)
Greta Thunberg – I Am Greta (Hulu)

Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards Nominations: ‘Mr. Soul’, ‘Gunda’, ‘Crip Camp’ And ‘Totally Under Control’ Top List

By Pete Hammond

In what is signaling a very good year for documentaries, the Critics’ Choice Association on Monday announced its list of nominations for the fifth annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, and if the past is any clue it could be an indicator of what to expect from the Oscars next spring.

With an inclusive list, to say the least, of about 50 films from approximately 200 submissions, three docs led the way with five noms apiece: Mr. Soul, about a historic Black TV show; Gunda, a touching film about the daily life of a pig and farm companions from exec producer Joaquin Phoenix; and Netflix’s Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution, an archival film about a summer camp catering to disabled young people.

Close behind with four nods each were Alex Gibney’s striking COVID-19 docu Totally Under Control that was actually just completed about two weeks ago (additionally, it received a Most Compelling Living Subject mention for Dr. Rick Bright); the personal story of a father and daugher, Dick Johnson Is Dead; the remarkable nature doc My Octopus Teacher; and gymnastics scandal pic Athlete A. The latter three hail from Netflix, which swamped the competition with 31 nominations, a more than 2-to-1 distance between next closest distributor Neon with 14. They are the only two distributors to reach double digits.

Overall the critics were in a generous mood, offering 15 films noms for Best Documentary Feature alone.

“At a unique time for the entertainment industry and the world, documentaries are more important and fortunately more abundant and more available and more essential than ever,” said Christopher Campbell, president of the documentary branch of CCA. “In 2020, documentaries have taken us to places and shown us perspectives we’ve never experienced before. They’ve chronicled events and life stories that are enlightening and enthralling — and sometimes frightening. It is a great honor for the CCA to celebrate these stories and subjects and shed light on the work of so many incredible filmmakers. The Documentary Branch faced its greatest task yet considering the quantity and quality of nonfiction cinema released this year. Ultimately, these nominees represent the best of the best of a remarkably fruitful moment for documentary filmmaking.”

Nominees were selected by Critics’ Choice members who were divided into five committees to whittle down the field. (Full Disclosure: I am a member and voted on Best Political, Historical/Biographical, and Archival docu nominees. Due to the ongoing pandemic, winners will not be announced at a ceremony as in the past, but rather by a special announcement November 16.

When Public Television Had a Little “Soul!”

By Jordan Coley

Decades after it left the air, Ellis Haizlip’s public-affairs show remains a unique achievement in Black television.

This summer, Netflix announced that it would add seven Black sitcoms from the late nineties and early two-thousands to its streaming catalogue: “Moesha,” “The Game,” “Sister, Sister,” “Girlfriends,” “The Parkers,” “Half & Half,” and “One on One.” Most of these shows originally aired on UPN, a now defunct network that launched in 1995 and produced all manner of Black televisual entertainment, from beloved teen sitcoms to some less well-conceived projects. The announcement came as part of Netflix’s Strong Black Lead programming block, an initiative started in the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite debacle to amplify the work of Black creators and to address the shortage of major film and television projects made for, by, and about Black people. Netflix’s acquisition of these shows, and the company’s apparent push to brand itself as the preëminent streaming home for Black content, is a notable stage in the long, complicated history of Blackness, representation, and authorship in popular American media.

Melissa Haizlip’s documentary “Mr. Soul!”, from 2018, examines an earlier, similarly fraught period of this history. In the late sixties, the federal government sought to redress the grievances of Black communities by giving Black people a louder voice (or simply a voice at all) in public media. It was in this atmosphere that an unusual show was born. Premièring in the fall of 1968, on the New York public-television station WNDT/Channel 13, “Soul!” was one of a cadre of Black public-affairs shows that popped up in major markets around the country. Like its Channel 13 sister program, “Black Journal,” the hour-long variety show was nominally meant to showcase an intrinsically Black perspective on art and politics. In practice, it proved to be something far more radical.

As the film illustrates, “Soul!,” from its inception, was uniquely daring in its mission to present a panoramic display of Black artistic sensibilities and political expression. In a pre-“Soul Train” time, the show was an unrivalled destination for Black music performance, hosting an alchemical mix of the era’s icons (Stevie Wonder, Tito Puente, Bill Withers), nascent stars (Earth, Wind & Fire; Al Green; Ashford & Simpson), and stalwarts of the Black avant-garde (Rahsaan Roland Kirk, the Last Poets, and Pharoah Sanders). It was also perhaps one of the only places on television where one could see the writer and leader of the Black Arts Movement, Amiri Baraka, perform a thunderous rendition of his poem “It’s Nation Time” over a darting Sanders improvisation, or watch contemporary Black dance, such as the delicate number choreographed by George Faison for the hour-long Stevie Wonder episode, in 1972.

Most pivotally, “Soul!” was a hub of candid, ranging, and often radical Black social and political discourse. Melissa Haizlip explained to me that the show’s producer, host, and creative architect—her uncle Ellis Haizlip—had “an expansive approach toward Black culture.” At a time when a burgeoning Black nationalist movement called upon Black Americans to coalesce under a single ideology of liberation, Haizlip said that her uncle saw to it that “Soul!” presented the true “fluidity of Black thought and Black identity.”

As “Mr. Soul!” documents, to Ellis, an openly gay Black man, this commitment could mean hosting the anti-Semitic and notoriously homophobic Nation of Islam representative Louis Farrakhan, interviewing the mother of the late Black radical George Jackson, or producing a two-hour conversation between the young poet Nikki Giovanni and her exiled idol James Baldwin. The latter segment, which was shot in London and aired as a two-part special, is one of the more astonishing artifacts in the show’s archive. Quite unlike the sensationalized and overproduced appointment-viewing events of the modern era, the Giovanni-Baldwin conversation is quiet, humming with the kind of casual intensity that only people who have dedicated long, solitary thought to the ideas they’re expressing tend to convey. Two of the most important artist-intellectuals of the twentieth century were engaged in intimate communion on national television.

Magic moments like these, and the show’s pioneering vision, were, in large part, a by-product of its ambitious host. Through extensive archival footage, recitations from Ellis’s personal journals, and testimonials from an exhaustive who’s who of friends, collaborators, and admirers, “Mr. Soul!” paints a picture of a figure every bit as well versed, well connected, and well respected as any of the era’s important entertainment figures, but whose legacy and immense contributions have largely been left out of the annals of popular memory. Ellis was a beacon of the New York art and entertainment world, known for his convivial air, penchant for playful fibbing, and teeming black book. He was a stage manager for plays that helped give James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson exposure early in their careers. He enlisted the help of the famed Beatles manager Brian Epstein to bring a dance show choreographed by Donald McKayle called “Black New World” on a tour across Europe. And, even after his tenure at “Soul!” ended, he continued to be a patron of Black arts in New York and beyond: he served as a friend and mentor to future legends such as Luther Vandross and Michael Jackson (Ellis produced Jackon’s twenty-first birthday celebration at Studio 54) and was the director of special programs at Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture until his death, in 1991.

In making the film, Melissa Haizlip hoped to work in the spirit of her uncle’s pioneering television program. “It’s interesting to me to create a film as a way to convey the interiority of Blackness and what that means in terms of the social conditions that people find themselves in,” she said. It is also not lost on her that, as the documentary’s Black female writer, director, and producer, she is a living embodiment of the legacy of “Soul!” “Ellis pushed forward the role of the Black woman creative,” she explained. Her uncle, she said, recognized the way that the stories and contributions of Black women had routinely been erased throughout history, and he wielded “Soul!” as a “cultural corrective.” Episodes such as the special Season 4 première, titled “Salute to Black Women,” championed the visionary work of artists and thinkers like the poet Sonia Sanchez; the dancer Carmen De Lavallade; and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s first Black female conductor, Margaret Rosezarian Harris, as most deserving of the national spotlight.

Today, the power and appeal of putting Black and nonwhite, non-normative faces of any kind onscreen is self-evident. What is only starting to become clear to the gatekeepers and green-lighters of media and entertainment is that the presence of those faces is merely one important step in an incomplete process. With “Soul!,” Ellis exemplified the power of Black authorship. He understood, as he told Ebony, in 1972, how “entertainment can be a deep business,” and that putting Black people in charge of making Black images and telling Black stories can have a deep effect.

“Soul!” aired for five seasons: locally for one season on WNDT, and, later, nationally on partnering PBS stations in Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Cleveland, Detroit, and Boston. In New York alone, a Harris Poll from 1969 found that sixty-four per cent of the Black households that it surveyed reported watching “Soul!” every week. The scholar Gayle Wald, in her book “It’s Been Beautiful: Soul! and Black Power Television,” from 2015, writes that a similar poll from 1972 “found the show competing favorably with commercial network fare” among Black audiences in at least six major cities, and that it was “unique among nationally broadcast programs in being watched by black viewers across age groups.” The ornate set design, artful directing, and unrivalled music, dance, and poetry programming weren’t being deployed just in the service of making good television. Week by week, show by show, segment by segment, Ellis knew that he was helping shape notions of what being Black in America could even mean for hundreds of thousands of people.

Quite a bit has changed in film and television since “Soul!” left the air, in 1973. Two years later, a white-helmed sitcom about a Black family uprooting from their native Queens and moving to Manhattan’s Upper East Side would première in prime time on CBS and go on to be one of the most successful network-television shows of all time. The eighties would bring MTV and, with it, Black music and culture into the living rooms of every American household. By the mid-nineties, there was virtually a run on “Black stuff” in film and television. After witnessing Fox’s early success with shows such as “In Living Color” and “Martin,” fledgling networks like UPN doubled down on their investment in Blackness, creating the shows that now find themselves trickling onto Netflix.

And yet, despite all this, watching the clip of the Last Poets performing their biting polemic “Die Nigger” on the fifth episode of the very first season of “Soul!” feels like stumbling upon a projection from an alternate universe. “ ‘Soul!’ was so ahead of its time that it was in time,” the former Last Poets member Felipe Luciano reflects at one point in the film. So attuned are we to popular media’s narrow-sighted, slow-adapting churn that when something comes along that speaks artfully, colloquially, and directly to the moment, it can be surprising. It can shock the soul.

Oscars Predictions: Best Documentary Feature – Election Day Lingers in Multiple Contenders

By Clayton Davis

With the election less than a month away, many films may become contingent on the outcome of Biden versus Trump. “All In: The Fight for Democracy” and “Boys State” are early favorites while “Dick Johnson is Dead” gives a welcoming balance to a devastating subject. Expect many more films to begin to fill this space over the next few weeks.

Goings On About Town

The public-television series “Soul!,” which ran from 1968 to 1973, was produced and hosted by Ellis Haizlip, a former theatre producer. (Twenty-four episodes are streaming on Tubi.) Haizlip, who was Black and gay, made the show the premier national showcase for Black artists (such as Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Carmen de Lavallade), activists (including Kathleen Cleaver and Louis Farrakhan), and writers (James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni, among others) who were rarely on other TV programs. “Mr. Soul!,” an enthralling and illuminating documentary about Haizlip and the show’s place in history, is directed by Melissa Haizlip, his niece, who also endows it with a moving personal perspective. Ellis, who died in 1991, had a discerning eye for talent, and his freewheeling setup gave established artists, such as Stevie Wonder, an extraordinarily open creative space. Copious interviews with scholars and artists, along with the show’s co-producer Christopher Lukas, detail Haizlip’s bold vision of the political role of the arts—further seen in the infuriating story of its cancellation, which involved Richard Nixon. “Mr. Soul!” is streaming on virtual cinemas.

— Richard Brody

ABC NEWS Good Morning America September 9, 2020

Paying Tribute to the 1st Black Late Night Show

Filmmaker Melissa Haizlip talks about her film “Mr. SOUL!” which remembers Ellis Haizlip, America’s first Black nighttime talk show host.

Blair Underwood Fronts "Mr. SOUL," an Ironic Look Back on History

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Actor Blair Underwood lends his voice to "Mr. SOUL!", a new documentary produced and directed by former PBS host Ellis Haizlip's niece.

SOUL!, the groundbreaking series created by Haizlip, celebrated the rich diversity of Black culture and is explored in the new film with the help of Underwood's narration.

5 Things You Need to Know:

1. The film chronicles the legacy of SOUL! during a time period when African-Americans normally weren't featured prominently on TV except in negative stereotypes. This program paved new trails for representation during its run from 1968 through 1973.

2. It turned a spotlight on the Black Arts Movement represented by such timeless talents as Sidney Poitier, Gladys Knight, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Maya Angelou, Al Green, Muhammad Ali, Cicely Tyson, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, Ashford and Simpson, Roberta Flack, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Billy Preston, The Delfonics, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Wilson Pickett, Kool & the Gang, and Patti LaBelle.

3. Mr. SOUL! won the following awards: Best Music Documentary at the IDA Documentary Awards, Best Feature Documentary at the Pan African Film & Arts Festival, Audience Award for Best Feature at the AFI DOCS Film Festival in Washington, D.C., Audience Award at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, and Meta Award at the Dallas Videofest/Docufest. It also made a splash at the BFI London Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival.

4. Producer/director Melissa Haizlip said the show was "revolutionary to take a full accounting of Black culture and all its complexity in the arts, music, politics, drama, and created an opportunity. It was an undiluted show. It was pure, unapologetically Black, and it was revolutionary."

5. Underwood believes this story that took place almost 50 years ago resonates today. "Our country is convulsing," he said. "We are bringing in a new birth, a new understanding, or racial reconciliation and racial understanding."

‘Mr. Soul!’ Review: Televising the Revolution, With Great Songs

A documentary resurrects the magic of “Soul!,” a boundary-pushing public television show that celebrated the rich diversity of Black culture in the ’60s and ’70s.

By Devika Girish

Aug. 27, 2020

In one of the many remarkable archival clips in the documentary “Mr. Soul!,” a 20-something Al Green croons “Love and Happiness” on live TV. Seen in front of him in long shot are the bobbing heads of an enraptured audience. They form — as the writer Greg Tate describes in an interview — a “sea of big, bold Afros.”

This moment captures the spirit of “Soul!,” a boundary-pushing variety show that aired on PBS from 1968 to 1973 with the aim of sharing the diversity of Black culture, as it emerged during the Civil Rights struggle and the Black Arts Movement, with the Black public.

Created and hosted by the theater producer Ellis Haizlip, and produced by a Black women–led crew, “Soul!” mixed high and low culture with an avant-garde eclecticism. Artists as varied as Earth, Wind & Fire, the Last Poets and Toni Morrison made their TV debuts on the show; Nikki Giovanni read poetry set to gospel music; and Haizlip graciously yet incisively interviewed a number of political figures, including Louis Farrakhan, whom the openly gay host questioned about homophobia in the Nation of Islam. Though a resounding success, especially among African-American viewers, the show faced — and ultimately buckled under — pressures from the Nixon White House.

Directed by Melissa Haizlip (Ellis’s niece), “Mr. Soul!” resurrects the magic of “Soul!,” partly through dense audiovisual collage. Warm, fuzzy archival excerpts are layered with interviews and quotes, and set to infectiously groovy music. Broad in scope and rapidly paced, the film can feel as if it’s bursting at the seams. But it acutely conveys the radical joy that “Soul!” inspired, barely contained in the movie’s running time.

Mr. Soul!
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. Watch through virtual cinemas.

‘Soul!’ Brought Black Culture to TV in 1968. A New Doc Tells Its Story.

“Mr. SOUL!” spotlights Ellis Haizlip, the host of a show that gave Stevie Wonder, Wilson Pickett and James Baldwin a platform.

By Jim Farber

Aug. 25, 2020, 9:00 a.m. ET

Anyone analyzing the image of African-Americans on the narrow range of TV stations available in the United States 50 years ago could expect to see one of just two stark portrayals. “We were either victims or villains,” said Chester Higgins, a veteran photographer whose portraits of Black America helped widen that perspective. “The media focused on poverty, riots and crime. They chose not to give any presence to the full character of our people.”

That’s the dehumanizing image the show emphatically titled “Soul!” aimed to obliterate. Debuting on New York City’s Public Television station WNET (then WNDT) on Sept. 12, 1968, with Higgins as its chief photographer, “Soul!” presented “the vitality and creativity of Black America in a way no other program ever had,” said Felipe Luciano, the poet, activist and broadcaster who worked on its production team. “‘Soul!’ gave viewers the first genuine sense of the expansiveness of Black culture.”

Nona Hendryx, who shared an ecstatic performance with Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles on the show’s inaugural episode, said, “For me, ‘Soul!’ was must-see TV.” She added: “Being on the show gave you credibility.”

The show was largely shaped by its co-producer and host, Ellis Haizlip, a Black gay man operating with power and confidence at a homophobic time. Haizlip used his refined taste, eccentric character and outsider’s perspective both to guide the show’s aesthetic and to define its goals. Now, half a century after its debut, a new documentary named “Mr. SOUL!” is arriving, with a focus on the inexorable link between the program and its host.

“It was Ellis’s revolutionary idea to combine politics, poetry, music and fiction into one forum,” said Melissa Haizlip, the host’s cousin, who directed the film, which arrives on Friday via movie theaters’ video-on-demand services.

“Soul!” wasn’t the only attempt to more fairly represent the Black experience in 1968. Two other shows debuted that year, “Say Brother” and the local New York program “Like It Is.” But neither so richly showcased the range of Black creativity: the author James Baldwin, the poet Sonia Sanchez, the dancer Judith Jamison, the activist Kwame Ture all appeared. The show gave particular exposure to musicians — popular stars like Stevie Wonder, Wilson Pickett and Earth, Wind & Fire and underground artists, including McCoy Tyner and the saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, whose unhinged performance culminated with him smashing a chair to pieces.

When Luciano asked Haizlip why he invited the famously unpredictable Kirk on the show, he recalled his deadpan response: “Because he’s totally crazy.”

His first appearance displayed his daring as well as a nonjudgmental nature, a quality that allowed him to make the audience comfortable with even the more controversial guests. One episode featured the political, proto-rap group the Last Poets who purposely used racial slurs in their lyrics to counter degrading images of Black people and scotch the scourge of internalized racism. Haizlip, whose tone never wavered from calm, introduced the piece by saying, “I hope you’ll accept it in the spirit with which it is intended.”

The ease of his tone inspired Melissa Haizlip to label him a “subtle subversive.”

Haizlip didn’t simply provide a platform for creative and confrontational stars. He also encouraged entirely new collaborations between them. He convinced Amiri Baraka to perform his poetry with the jazz musician Pharoah Sanders, and asked the dancer George Faison to choreograph a spontaneous piece while Stevie Wonder performed “You and I.” Likewise, he convinced Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, then working as behind-the-scenes songwriters, to become an upfront performing duo beginning with their appearance on “Soul!”

“He saw something in us that we didn’t see in ourselves,” Simpson said in a phone interview.

From the start, Haizlip positioned “Soul!” as the premiere showcase for the emerging Black Arts Movement. “This movement was the return to the Harlem Renaissance from 40 years before,” said Higgins, who, after leaving “Soul!” became a staff photographer for The New York Times.

Though the show had many white viewers, it never catered to the white gaze. “Ellis used his platform specifically for creating a conversation within the Black community,” Hendryx said. “He very much wanted that dialogue to take place.”

Perhaps the show’s edgiest episode featured Louis Farrakhan. While the minister’s condemnation of homosexuality was well-known, the host dared to ask his guest about his feelings on the issue. Farrakhan, who knew about Haizlip’s sexuality, answered with a long “love the sinner/hate the sinner” speech, throwing in a charge that Black gay people were made that way by whites, a view Haizlip did not challenge. While Melissa Haizlip feels that the minister’s statements “are awful, we wanted to focus on Ellis’ bravery in asking the question,” she said.

As holistic as the show’s approach to Black politics and culture was, it played a particularly historic role in its presentation of music. “Soul!” helped pave the way for the pivotal Black music program “Soul Train,” a far slicker production that made its national debut three years later, in 1971. It also served as a precursor to the many musical offshoots of the BET network, including BET Jazz, BET Hip-Hop, and BET Gospel. “Soul!” still stood out, with its thoughtful camera angles, mindful close-ups and entirely live performances, which, together, banished glitz to hold the focus on the performers’ art.

The film also deals with the quirkier elements of Haizlip’s character. Associates said he was given to fabulist tales, like telling one friend that he had sex with Princess Margaret, Lyndon Johnson and the Dalai Lama. “He sometimes had a unique relationship with the truth,” Melissa Haizlip said with a laugh.

“Soul!” was canceled in 1973, despite a vigorous letter writing campaign from its viewers and strong ratings across PBS stations nationally. According to a 1969 Harris Poll, more than half the Black families who owned a television set in New York watched “Soul!” Still, pressure came from within PBS to “integrate” the show, which would have diluted its purpose.

After the show’s end, Haizlip went on to produce arts events and he remained on the NET staff until his death. In the final episode of “Soul!” its curator offered its ultimate legacy. “Although it’s over, it’s not the end,” Haizlip said. “Black seeds keep on growing.”