Note: Soul Sessions is produced as a podcast first and designed to be listened to. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes the emotion and inflection meant to be conveyed by human voice. Our transcripts are created using AI and human transcribers, but may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting.

PAUL:

A man born deaf discovered that by whistling specific tones into a telephone, he could connect with people all over the world. A filmmaker talked his way into directing a dinosaur epic in suburban Australia on a six day shoot with a budget that can be generously described as, well, aspirational. These are not stories someone made up. These are documentaries. And for the month of April, they're coming to the Capri Theater in Fondren for free.

Hey, it's Paul Wolf with a front row seat to Conversations on Culture from Jackson, Mississippi. We call our podcast Soul Sessions. It's the people, places, and events that make the city with soul shine. This is a Soul Sessions Extra, a shorter form episode focused on one thing we think you need to know about right now. And today, that's the second annual Stranger Than Fiction film series. Four documentary screenings at the Capri across the month of April, brought to you by the Mississippi Film Society and made possible in part by a grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission.

I sat down with Ryan Parker, executive director of the Mississippi Film Society not long ago, to talk about why he does this work, why he left L.A., came back to Mississippi and decided Jackson needed more chances to gather around a big screen.

RYAN:

We all know that it's easier. It requires less effort for us to stay at home and stream a film on Netflix, for example. But it does not measure up to watching that same film with an audience at a theater.

PAUL:

Ryan said something that's really stayed with me about the power of films.

RYAN:

Those kinds of communal events used to happen all the time and they happen less and less now. And then we wonder why we're, we live in kind of such a divisive culture. We're losing shared experiences.

PAUL:

And that's the whole thesis of the stranger than fiction film series in two sentences. Four Tuesdays in April, four documentaries, one neighborhood theater, no charge.

Ryan's always been deliberate about the kinds of films he wants to bring to Jackson.

RYAN:

I'm not really interested in bringing films to the community that are polemical or propagandistic or divisive. First off, I hope people just enjoy the film as a film. And if there's opportunity for conversation about culture and life and, you know, quote unquote, bigger themes, then I want a film that kind of creates space for that. It's always been a goal of mine through the film society to create a space where we can come together and kick back and watch fun films. There are great festivals across the state, even here in Jackson. The folks at Jackson Film Festival are doing great work. I think there's always room for more events like this, know, the more the merrier. And so for me, it was like, can we find fun films that may not get a theatrical release here, or could we land on some preview screenings? And I think we've got a mix of that.

PAUL:

This year's lineup lives exactly in that space. Films that are wild and funny and moving, and in some cases, genuinely uncomfortable in the best way. The series opens April 7th with You've Got Gold, a celebration of John Prine, a concert documentary film that Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, capturing a star-studded tribute to the legendary songwriter, Bonnie Raitt, Brandi Carlisle, Tyler Childers, Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, Jason Isbell, Bob Weir, all on one stage, sharing stories and performing Prine songs.

April 14th brings The Librarians, in partnership with Mississippi United. This one premiered at Sundance, then went on to South by Southwest and the full-frame documentary film festival. It follows librarians across the country fighting back against an unprecedented wave of book banning, people on the front lines defending intellectual freedom and the right to read.

April 21st, get ready to laugh. Mockbuster follows Australian filmmaker Anthony Frith, whose career had been reduced to corporate video work when he somehow pitched himself to The Asylum, the studio behind the Sharknado franchise, to direct a lost world dinosaur epic. They said yes. What followed was a six-day production shoot in suburban Adelaide on a budget that can be generously described as aspirational. Frith was simultaneously directing the film and documenting the chaos behind the camera.

And the series closes April 28th with Joy Bubbles, a Sundance premiere from earlier this year. The true story of a young man born deaf who discovered that by whistling specific tones into a telephone, he could connect with people from all over the world. Now I've actually seen this one and I'll just leave it at that. Go see this movie.

Four films, four Tuesday nights, all free, all at the Capri. Ryan Parker and the Mississippi Film Society are building something real in this city. One screening at a time and April is a great month to show up. Every film starts at seven. Tickets are free on a first come first serve basis and limited to four per order. Food and drinks are available at each event, too. You can order with the QR code right there at your seat.

You've got gold on April 7th, the librarians April 14th, mockbuster April 21st, and joy bubbles on April 28th. All ticket links will be at visitjackson.com/soul sessions.

This podcast is produced by Visit Jackson, the destination organization for Mississippi's capital city. Our executive producers are Jonathan Pettus and Dr. Rickey Thigpen, and I'm our managing editor. There's always something great going on in Jackson, and we keep up with it at VisitJackson.com.

I'm Paul Wolf, and you've been listening to Soul Sessions.

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