Melissa Haizlip

Melissa Haizlip is an American film producer, director and writer. Her Mr. SOUL! The Movie won the Critic's Choice Documentary Award for Best First Documentary Feature, and the Best Music Documentary award at the 2018 International Documentary Association Awards.[1][2] [3] Haizlip was nominated for four additional Critics Choice Documentary Awards including Best Documentary Feature, and one 2021 Cinema Eye Honors award for Mr. SOUL! about her uncle, Ellis Haizlip.

Melissa Haizlip
Haizlip at Howard University
Washington, D.C.
Born
Boston, Massachusetts
OccupationDirector
Producer
Writer
Years active1986–present

Biography

Haizlip was born in Boston, Massachusetts to educator Dr. Harold C. Haizlip and author Shirlee Taylor Haizlip, while both were attending graduate school at Harvard. She grew up in New York, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, and Connecticut, where she later attended Yale University.

Haizlip started her career in musical theater, performing professionally on Broadway in New York City, and in film and television in Los Angeles, before moving into film production in 1999.[4][5]

In 2009, Haizlip founded Shoes In The Bed Productions.

In 2013, she produced the award-winning short film entitled, "You're Dead To Me" directed by Wu Tsang, about a grieving Chicana mother coming to terms with the loss of her transgender child on Día de los Muertos. The film won Best Short at the 2014 Imagen Awards and was screened in over 50 film festivals winning many awards.[6][7][8]

In 2019, Haizlip, produced and directed a short documentary entitled, "Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop" for the Annenberg Space for Photography as an installation for an exhibit which was based on the 2018 photography book, created and written by Vikki Tobak, an ongoing exhibition series.[9]

In the summer of 2019, Haizlip produced "Soul at the Center," an event honoring the 60th anniversary of Lincoln Center, kicking off their Out of Doors summer concert series in the Damrosch Park Bandshell. The opening night was dedicated to Ellis Haizlip paying homage to his 1972 - 1973 Black Arts festival, aptly named Soul at the Center. The celebration featured Grammy Award–winning vocalist Lalah Hathaway, who paid tribute to her father Donny Hathaway, who performed at the original 1972 event on the opening night concert.[10][11]

Mr. SOUL!
Main article: Mr. SOUL! The Movie

Haizlip wrote, produced and directed the award-winning film, Mr.SOUL! It made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018. The film won the 2018 Best Music Documentary at the International Documentary Association Awards.[12][13] The film was screened at over 50 film festivals from April 2018 through 2019 including BFI London, Hot Docs, Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival, True / False Film Festival, Urbanworld Film Festival, and Pan African Film Festival, among others.

On August 28, 2020, Haizlip film was released in limited theaters and virtual cinemas.[14]

The film will premiere on public television on Independent Lens during Black History Month on February 22, 2021.[15][16]

Personal

Haizlip's company Shoes In The Bed Productions LLC., is based in New York. She resides in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, with her husband.

References
  1. "Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Melissa Haizlip— "Mr. SOUL!"". womenandhollywood.com. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  2. "2018 IDA Documentary Awards Honor "". Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  3. "MR. SOUL! Wins Critics Choice Documentary Award for Filmmaker Melissa Hailzip | Black Star News". www.blackstarnews.com. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  4. "Melissa Haizlip". Playbill. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  5. Oxman, Steven (20 October 2000). "The Lion King (Pantages Theatre)". Variety. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  6. "PBS's Independent Lens to Premiere Mr. SOUL! in Its Upcoming Season, Bringing America's First Black Variety Show Back to Public Television". About PBS - Main. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  7. Foundation, Imagen. "2014 Imagen Awards Winners & Nominees". Imagen Foundation. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  8. Tsang, Wu (14 July 2013). "You're Dead to Me". Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  9. "Contact High Credits". IMDB. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  10. Haizlip, Melissa (2019). "Lincoln Center Out of Doors Kicks Off With a Tribute to a Pioneering Series on Black Culture and Art". Playbill. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  11. "Soul at the Center". Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  12. Falk, Tyler. "Film explores 'quiet revolutionary' behind groundbreaking TV show of Black culture". Current. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  13. Editors, The. "2018 IDA Documentary Awards Honor". Retrieved 22 December 2020.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  14. "'Mr. Soul!', Doc on Pioneering Black Talk Show Host, Continues Virtual Cinema Run". NON FICTION FILM. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  15. "MR.SOUL! | Films | PBS". Independent Lens. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  16. Lang, Brent (22 December 2020). "Independent Lens Winter Slate Includes Documentaries by Jared Leto, Shalini Kantayya (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
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