(San Francisco, CA, Friday, February 19, 2021) – In 1968, America’s first Black variety show, “SOUL!,” helmed by producer and host Ellis Haizlip, premiered on public television. The pioneering series ran for five years, cementing itself as not only a vehicle to celebrate African American artistry, community and culture but also as a platform for political expression and a powerful force in the fight for social justice.

The historic show makes its way back into homes across the U.S. as the subject of Melissa Haizlip’s Critics Choice Award-winning documentary Mr. SOUL!. Melissa Haizlip—the niece of Ellis—portrays in exquisite detail a revolutionary time in American culture and entertainment through vibrant archival footage and interviews with numerous Black luminaries who appeared on “SOUL!,” or were impacted by it.

While chronicling the journey of “SOUL!,” filmmaker Melissa Haizlip recounts the life and contributions of the late Ellis Haizlip, who was steeped in the New York City arts community prior to creating the show. Ellis quickly stepped into the role of host of his creation, where his earnest demeanor, low-key interviewing style, and his passion for the Black artistic community and their works—including books, the spoken word, music, film and dance—culminated in a show that depicted the Black experience in a bold and unapologetic way. Haizlip’s creation shifted the media focus from what was then uniformly images of inner-city poverty and violence, to instead shine a light on the vibrant contemporary Black Arts Movement.

Mr. SOUL! will premiere on Monday, February 22 at 10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS’s anthology documentary series, Independent Lens, and an extended theatrical version of the film will be available on the PBS Video app.

Visit the Mr. SOUL! page on Independent Lens for more information about the film.

Melissa Haizlip is an award-winning filmmaker based in New York. Her work responds to pressing social issues at the intersection of racial justice, social justice, activism, and representation. Female transformation and empowerment are at the core of all of her ideas, with the goal being to advocate and amplify the voices of women and people of color. Melissa’s feature documentary, Mr. SOUL!, won the 2020 Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best First Feature Documentary. The film is nominated for the 2021 Cinema Eye Honors for Outstanding Debut Feature. In 2019, Mr. SOUL! was awarded as a finalist for the inaugural Library of Congress Lavine / Ken Burns Prize for Film, a new, annual prize that recognizes a filmmaker whose documentary uses original research and compelling narrative to tell stories that touch on some aspect of American history.