Free Public Screening of Pixar's Soul Set for June 4

Movie, Q&A Follow Live@5 with Damen Tolbert

A scene from the Disney Pixar feature film Soul.

A concert and a free family movie offer a full night of jazz and R&B at ASC.

The Arts & Science Center is teaming up with Arkansas Cinema Society and Explore Pine Bluff to host a free public screening of the 2020 Disney Pixar feature film Soul. 

It starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 4, in the ART Yard of The ARTSpace on Main, 623 S. Main St. The film is rated PG and runs 1 hour, 49 minutes. Popcorn will be provided. 

Attendees (ages 2 and older) will be required to wear face masks at entry and when walking around but may remove them when seated. Tables and chairs will be socially distanced.

The film event will follow ASC’s monthly concert, Live@5. This month’s performer is jazz musician Damen Tolbert. 

A question-and-answer session with Tolbert, Jimmy Cunningham of Explore Pine Bluff, and Kody Ford of the Arkansas Cinema Society will take place at 7:30 p.m., with the film beginning at 8.

“Augmenting ASC’s Live@5 event through a partnership with the Arkansas Cinema Society is a perfect opportunity to introduce ASC’s new project, The ARTSpace on Main, and bring diverse programming to the community,” said Dr. Rachel Miller, executive director of The Arts & Science Center. “We hope to offer the community similar ACS collaborations in the future.” 

Arkansas Cinema Society is a nonprofit organization committed to building a film community in the state. It was founded by director and screenwriter Jeff Nichols and filmmaker Kathryn Tucker.

The Soul screening is part of ACS’s Dreamland Film Series, which is a celebration of Black voices in cinema. 

“Part of our mission at ACS is to offer audiences a deeper understanding of the stories behind the films,” said Tucker, who is also executive director of Arkansas Cinema Society. “Sometimes this involves chatting with the director, a writer or another member of the crew, but other times, such as this one, we get to help highlight a cultural part of a region. We’re excited to show a fun family film while letting the crowd hear more about Pine Bluff’s jazz legacy.”

Pine Bluff served an integral role on the “Chitlin Circuit,” a group of performance venues that were acceptable for Black blues and jazz musicians during the era of segregation. 

“Pine Bluff's rich Delta dirt served as the training ground for legends in every music genre,” explained Sheri Storie, director of Explore Pine Bluff. The screening and Q&A tie into the organization’s mission “to share Pine Bluff's untold stories about how the mosaic of cotton fields, catfish farms, juke joints and foot-stomping churches came together to create sounds and artists unlike any the world had seen before.”

The film centers on New York teacher and jazz pianist Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx), who suddenly finds himself trapped in a strange land between Earth and the afterlife. Other performers lending their voices include Tina Fey, Angela Bassett, Ahmir-Khalib “Questlove” Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, and Daveed Diggs. 

Soul won Best Animated Feature at the 2021 Academy Awards. It was also the first Disney Pixar film to feature a Black protagonist, the first with a predominantly Black cast, and the first with a Black co-director (Kemp Powers).

Saxophonist Tolbert Returns to Live@5

Damen Tolbert

Saxophonist and composer Damen Tolbert is a regular performer at Live@5, but the June 4 concert will mark his first in-person show at the Center in more than a year. Tolbert was among several musicians who performed in concerts livestreamed via ASC’s Facebook page during the past year of social distancing.

A Chicago native, Tolbert describes his sound as “a dynamic mix of old and new styles.” He takes cues from old school R&B, hip-hop, neo-soul, trap, pop, gospel, classical and multiple subgenres of jazz.

Tolbert is also a poet, arranger, and audio engineer. He is the director of sound recording technology and a music instructor at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Check out his Facebook page at 3-Damentional and his YouTube channel.

This is also just the second concert in the ART Yard, the outdoor space connected to ASC’s new ARTSpace on Main facility. (While there, visitors can check out the recently installed Shark sculpture created by Southeast Arkansas College welding tech students,) 

The concert is from 5-7 p.m. and attendees are welcome to stay for the free Q&A and Soul screening. While the film screening is free and open to all ages, entry to Live@5 remains $5 for ASC members and $10 for nonmembers, ages 21 and older. Beer, wine, soft drinks and water are provided.

Live@5 is ASC’s concert series featuring jazz, blues, and rock ‘n’ roll musicians the first Friday of the month. The series is sponsored by M.K. Distributors and the Pine Bluff Advertising & Promotion Commission. Next month’s scheduled performance is July 2 with the band Platinum Hitz. See the rest of the 2021 lineup at asc701.org/live-at-5.