Mr. SOUL! SBFF Film Talk with Filmmaker, Melissa Haizlip
Mr. SOUL! SBFF Film Talk with Filmmaker, Melissa Haizlip
Before Oprah – before Arsenio – there was Mr. SOUL! Ellis Haizlip makes television broadcast history with SOUL!, America's first “black Tonight Show.” Right on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, one fearless black pioneer reignited a Harlem Renaissance for a new era, ushering giants and rising stars of Black American culture onto the national television stage. He was hip. He was smart. He was innovative, political, and gay. In his personal fight for social equality, this man ensured the revolution would be televised. The man was Ellis Haizlip. The Revolution was SOUL! - an amazing weekly television show that aired on public television from 1968 - 1973 celebrating Black American culture, art, life, and community and shared it with the nation via the airwaves. Directed and produced by Melissa Haizlip featuring music composed by award-winning Robert Glasper with narration by Blair Underwood.