USA / 2010 / 83mins / Documentary, History / English

Presented by Jamie Foxx, Thunder Soul follows the extraordinary alumni from Houston’s storied Kashmere High School Stage Band, who return home after 35 years to play a tribute concert for the 92-year-old “Prof,” their beloved band leader who broke the color barrier and transformed the school’s struggling jazz band into a world-class funk powerhouse in the early 1970s.

Mark Landsman

Mark Landsman is a Los Angeles-based independent filmmaker who recently produced and directed the feature-length film, Thunder Soul, on the extraordinary reunion of the legendary Kashmere Stage Band. The film had its World Premiere at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, where it won an Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary. His first feature-length film, Peace of Mind, on coexistence through the eyes of a group of Palestinian and Israeli teenagers, won an Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2000 Hampton’s International Film Festival; was featured at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival’s Gen Y Program; and aired on PBS and networks internationally. His fictional short, Skylab, won Best of the Fest at the 2005 Chicago REEL Shorts Festival; aired on PBS; and was screened at festivals internationally. For Witness, Peter Gabriel’s human rights media organization, Mark produced and directed two films: Postcard from Peje, on ethnic Albanian teenagers returning to their homes in post-war Kosovo; and Books Not Bars, on minority youth and the U.S. prison system. Mark was a producer and director for Morgan Spurlock’s award-winning documentary television series, 30 Days; for the Sundance Channel’s, Big Ideas for a Small Planet; and on many non-fiction programs for A&E, Discovery Channel, ABC Family and PBS. He holds an MFA in Film Direction from the American Film institute, where he was a Directing Fellow from 2002-2004. Learn More