“What Happened, Miss Simone?” was greeted with a standing ovation at a gala screening at the film festival, which runs through February 1 in the Utah ski resort of Park City.
Drawing on previously unreleased footage and recordings, the movie traces Simone’s life from her youth as a classically trained pianist to crossover blue/soul/jazz “I Love You Porgy” songstress and 1960s black power figurehead.
Including extensive interviews with her daughter and close friends, it then recounts her downward spiral and battles with domestic abuse and mental illness, leading eventually to her diagnosis with bipolar disorder.
“She struggled with demons, from inside and out,” said Oscar-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus, a Sundance veteran whose previous movies include “The Farm: Angola, USA” (1998) and “Love, Marilyn” (2012).
“Her life was a reflection of the legacy of racism in America but also of the extraodinary power that a righteous voice can have against even the most wicked historical legacy.”
After separating from her husband and manager Simone moved to Liberia in the early 1970s, but running out of money headed north to Europe, first Switzerland and then France, struggling to get her career back on the rails.
Ironically it was a commercial — for Chanel No 5 perfume — which resurrected her fortunes, as its use of her song “My Baby Just Cares for Me” brought Simone renewed fame from the late 1980s.
‘MISSISSIPPI GODDAM’
But much of the movie centers on the early years, and in particular her transformation from jazz singer into civil rights firebrand — despite the efforts of her abusive husband, who wanted her to keep making the hits.
It is difficult to feel the power that a song like “Missippi Goddam” — her response to the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four black children — had at the time, when it was banned from radio stations.
Speaking after Thursday night’s screening, the film’s director said Simone’s songs can still resonate for a new generation — specifically protestors following a recent spate of white-on-black killings in America.
“If we had voices like Nina Simone today, (they could express) the pain and the passion of the movement, that’s been building I think on the streets in the past six months.
In a later-life interview in the film, a disillusioned Simone laments that there was no civil rights movement, and therefore no place for her earlier songs.
“I think that’s one of the saddest moments for me in the film, because I think we can all see the place of these songs today,” said Garbus, urging new artists to “appropriate those songs to take them, and to continue them and to … let the music mean something again.”
The evening ended with a tribute from Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated singer John Legend, who sang three Simone tunes including “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.”
Simone ended up based in Paris after her late-career comeback, and continued to perform in the 1990s — her last album, “A Single Woman,” was released in 1993. She died in 2003, aged 70.
“What Happened, Miss Simone?” is due out soon, on streaming video service Netflix.
source: interaksyon.com
