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Pharrell Previews His Hidden Figures Soundtrack at TIFF

One of the buzzier titles at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival is Hidden Figures, the Space Race-era drama about three African-American women mathematicians working at NASA: Mary Jackson (played by Janelle Monáe), Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), and Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer). Saturday evening, after an emotional screening with the film’s stars, Pharrell took the stage alongside singers Kim Burrell and Lalah Hathaway to debut his upbeat, Motown-inspired original soundtrack.

Hidden Figures isn’t yet completed, and only clips from the film were shown at TIFF yesterday. It’s slated for a national release in January 2017, but is expected to receive a limited run this December in hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Academy Awards.

Pharrell was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song in 2014 for “Happy,” his number-one hit that’s technically part of the Minions sequel Despicable Me 2. (The writers of “Let It Go,” from Disney’s Frozen, ultimately took home the statue.)

Below, see a professionally edited selection of clips from yesterday’s Hidden Figures live concert (via Vulture) and a behind-the-scenes trailer also featuring Pharrell.