Mark the 10th anniversary of Prince’s death with ‘Purple Rain’ screening

“Purple Rain” is the latest installment in Jeannine Etter’s Soul Cinema Sundays, a “curated Black film and cultural conversation series” that occurs every month, she said. While Etter launched this series under her own name in January 2025, the concept dates all the way back to the 2010s when she was living in Oakland, California.

Credit: Courtesy of Jeannine Etter

Credit: Courtesy of Jeannine Etter

“We were not happy with the movies that we were seeing in the theaters. Like, gravely disappointed,” Etter said. She and her friends began holding Sunday film screenings in their living rooms and discussed them afterward.

“Through that, I learned about so much cinema that I would not have … from what mainstream cinema offered,” she said.

Soul Cinema Sundays transformed into a public event that Etter first hosted through the radio station she worked for in California, and continued it under her production company, Orange Amber Productions, when she moved to Atlanta.

Graham stepped in to host, which he said was a perfect fit. After watching “The Wiz” on the big screen for the first time, he realized how important it was to see movies in a theater.

Creating awareness of these movies also shines a light on the artists and movements that helped shape modern music and art, Etter and Graham said.

“I think that younger people need something to build on,” Etter said. “To me, to have that foundation is extremely important.”

Take “Purple Rain,” for example — Etter hopes people will not only honor Prince but gain an appreciation for the bands and music that came out of Minneapolis at that time.

“The movie means something different, not only in terms of Prince, but just historically, what Minneapolis did, that whole sound,” Etter said.

Through the post-film Q&As and ice breakers that take place during the event, Etter has tried to bring the same feeling of watching movies with her friends in Oakland to Atlanta.

Credit: Courtesy of Jeannine Etter

Credit: Courtesy of Jeannine Etter

“You can’t necessarily bring a living room to a theater, but that’s what I’m trying to do as much as possible,” she said. “What that close-knit experience did for me, and how it grew me spiritually and the connection and community is really what I’m trying to re-create.”

Soul Cinema Sundays also mimic the way that families gathered together back in the ’70s and ’80s to watch these movies, Graham said. They see a variety of ages in the groups that attend the screenings.

Every month, Etter tries to come up with a movie that reflects a theme or an event happening at that time. When she remembered April 2026 is the 10th anniversary of Prince’s death, it seemed like a perfect time to feature “Purple Rain.”

Etter hopes that during the movie, when the song “Purple Rain” comes on, everyone will join in singing together loudly, “so that Prince can hear us wherever he is.”

Before the screening, Prince’s music will play in the Plaza’s lobby, and there will be trivia questions on Prince and the “Purple Rain” film. During the post-film conversation between Suggs and Goode, Suggs will discuss Prince’s legacy.

“It’s good to give that inspiration to the up-and-coming now,” Graham said. “And you never know who may be sitting in the audience, who may be inspired. We might be listening to the next little Prince or something in the audience very soon.”

If you go

4 p.m. Sunday. $13.50. Plaza Theatre, 1049 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE, Atlanta. plazaatlanta.com/movie/soul-cinema-sunday-purple-rain-4k.