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Saturday, June 13
11:00 AM - 12:45 PM

Burke Theatre at the US Navy Memorial

701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004

for all screenings

Soul Patrol

Director

J.M. Harper

Executive Producers

Ed Emanuel, Joe Plummer, Jenifer Westphal, Stacey Reiss, Lance Acord, Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Cody Ryder, Lauren Driscoll, John Driscoll, Jenny Raskin, Kelsey Koenig, Davis Guggenheim, Rahdi Taylor, Andrew Gertler, Max Allman, Wendy Neu, Nina Fialkow, David Fialkow

Producers

Sam Bisbee, J.M. Harper, Danielle Massie, Nasir Jones, Peter Bittenbender

Editors

Niles Howard, Byron Leon, Gabriela Tessitore

Co-Editors

Byron Leon, Niles Howard, Gabriela Tessitore

Cinematographer

Logan Triplett

Contact

danielle@parkpictures.com

After fifty years of silence, the Vietnam War’s first Black special operations team reunites to tell their story. SOUL PATROL uncovers a hidden chapter of American military history, following the men of Company F, 51st Infantry—an elite Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol unit operating deep behind enemy lines—while asking whether confronting the past can finally bring peace.

Based on Ed Emanuel’s bestselling memoir, director J.M. Harper gains unprecedented access to this once-secretive group of African-American veterans. Through their personal archives—raw Super 8 footage, photographs, and audio recordings—the film reconstructs their journey with an immediacy rarely seen in Vietnam War storytelling. Opening on the war’s 50th anniversary, the surviving members reunite at a hotel that becomes a surreal, liminal space where memory, brotherhood, and unresolved trauma collide.

At the center is Emanuel’s coming-of-age story, charting his transformation from a naïve teenager into a hardened soldier during the Civil Rights era. His tour unfolds through a series of defining moments: a harrowing first mission, the loss of loved ones, and the formation of “Soul Patrol,” the all-Black LURP Team 2/6. Missions reveal both the precision and peril of their work, while rare moments of reprieve expose deeper internal conflicts.

As the men reflect on their experiences, the film interrogates the contradictions of fighting for freedom abroad while facing inequality at home. SOUL PATROL ultimately becomes not just a war story, but a reckoning—an intimate portrait of survival, memory, and the enduring cost of war on those asked to fight it.

Content Warning: This film contains depictions of PTSD and violence in war. Viewer discretion is advised.
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J.M. Harper

Director, Soul Patrol

J.M. Harper is a Brooklyn-based director and father of two. His debut documentary AS WE SPEAK premiered in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024. A multi-hyphenate documentarian, he has edited four features, including the Emmy-nominated series JEEN-YUHS: A KANYE TRILOGY.

In 2024, Harper was named to DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40” list. He is a recipient of the Concordia Studio Fellowship and the Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship for his sophomore documentary SOUL PATROL, which premiered at Sundance 2026, where he received the Directing Award for U.S. Documentary.

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