The filmmakers from Disney-Pixar’s Soul, director Pete Docter, co-director & screenwriter Kemp Powers and producer Dana Murray, partnered with American anthropologist/educator Dr. Johnnetta Cole and globally-renowned jazz pianist Jon Batiste to offer an exclusive sneak peek at the film as a part of the Essence Festival of Culture during a virtual panel titled Finding Soul. (Watch it here.) Both Dr. Cole and Batiste, who lent his expertise to the jazz arrangements and compositions in Soul, serve as cultural consultants on the film.
The clip features the song “Parting Ways” written, produced and performed by Cody ChesnuTT. Soul is set to bow in U.S. theaters on November 20.
Synopsis: What is it that makes you…YOU? This November, Pixar Animation Studios’ all-new feature film Soul introduces Joe Gardner (voice of Jamie Foxx) – a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. But one small misstep takes him from the streets of New York City to The Great Before – a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities, quirks and interests before they go to Earth. Determined to return to his life, Joe teams up with a precocious soul, 22 (Tina Fey), who has never understood the appeal of the human experience. As Joe desperately tries to show 22 what’s great about living, he may just discover the answers to some of life’s most important questions.
Directed by Academy Award winner Pete Docter (Inside Out, Up), co-directed by Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami) and produced by Academy Award nominee Dana Murray, p.g.a. (Pixar short Lou).
