Out of all the cross-cultural encounters that have resulted in the richness of American popular music, none has been so prominent or so fraught with fraternity and conflict as the relationships between African Americans and American Jews. Body and Soul: An American Bridge aims to tease out the strands of this cultural knot by focusing on the early performance history of the jazz standard, “Body and Soul,” one of the most recorded songs in the jazz repertoire.

Sponsored by

Join us for a conversation with director Robert Philipson after the final credits.

Robert Philipson backed into filmmaking when he took an Introduction of Videography course at Berkeley City College while trying to learn how to operate a camera. An experienced writer and college professor, Robert quickly turned his multimedia classes to good use. His first film festival entry, “Ma Rainey’s Lesbian Licks,” (2005) played in 20 different film festivals and his subsequent documentary shorts have played in more than 70 film festivals. Body and Soul is his first feature-length documentary.