Feb Doc Soup - THUNDER SOUL

Hot Docs is pleased to announce that the February installment of the Doc Soup monthly screening series will feature the inspiring THUNDER SOUL (D: Mark Landsman, USA, 83 minutes), winner of the Audience Award at Hot Docs 2010 and numerous other film festivals across the continent. THUNDER SOUL will screen on Wednesday, February 2, at 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. at the Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor Street West. Filmmaker Mark Landsman will be in attendance to introduce the film and answer audience questions following the screening.

"We’re thrilled to have this opportunity to present an encore screening of this Hot Docs Audience Award winning film,” says director of programming Sean Farnel. “Our programmers were delighted with the reception it received at the festival, and are excited that Toronto is getting another opportunity to see this gem. Since winning this award at Hot Docs, director Mark Landsman has won Audience Awards at festivals in Los Angeles, Dallas, Aspen and Memphis. We look forward to welcoming him back to celebrate and expand the audience for this film.”

Conrad “Prof” Johnson composed original funk songs and arranged fantastic stage antics with Houston’s Kashmere High School Stage Band. He became the first black high school bandleader with an all-black high school band to win the Texas state championship in the 1970s. His “give it all you got” attitude made the group unstoppable, leading them to win 42 out of 46 contests over the course of the decade and establishing them as international funk legends with tours in Paris and Japan. THUNDER SOUL combines archival footage of the kids in action, showing off their James Brown showmanship, platform shoes, and Bootsy Collins-type rhythms, with the band members’ recent reunion. With nothing but love for the father of funk from their youth, they practise for the first time in three decades, hoping they “still got it” enough to perform a tribute show for the ailing 92-year-old Prof.

The Doc Soup monthly screening series brings the latest Canadian and international documentaries to the big screen in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Single tickets for THUNDER SOUL are $12 and can be purchased in advance at http://www.hotdocs.ca or at the door on the night of the screening (subject to availability). A limited number of free tickets for the 9:15 p.m. screening will be available to students with proper ID (subject to availability) at the door, on a first-come first-served basis beginning at 5:30 p.m. 

Upcoming screening dates for Toronto’s Doc Soup are March 2 and April 6.

Hot Docs is pleased to acknowledge Citytv as the Presenting Partner of the Doc Soup series.

Doc Soup Toronto is sponsored by Rogers and Ford.