Black Bottom Film Festival presents Mr. Soul!

Indie Lens Pop-Up, presented by ITVS, Independent Lens, and Black Bottom Film Festival will present Mr. SOUL! Join filmmaker Melissa Haizlip as she brings viewers to a critical moment in history and culture whose impact continues to resonate today. The public television variety show SOUL! offered an unfiltered, uncompromising celebration of Black literature, poetry, music, and politics—voices that had few other options for national television exposure. Guided by enigmatic producer and host Ellis Haizlip, the series was among the first to provide expanded images of Black Americans on television and recognize the vibrancy of the Black Arts Movement. Mr. SOUL! celebrates the groundbreaking PBS series against the backdrop of a swiftly changing political and social landscape, while also profiling Haizlip, the charismatic man behind one of the most culturally significant and successful TV shows in U.S. history.