Amazing Nina Simone (The)

A new Documentary Film exploring the origins & artistry of the great Nina Simone - Pianist, Singer, Songwriter & Activist.

Nina Simone took to the piano to demand racial and gender equality over 50 years ago - a cry for freedom equally resonant today.

With musical proclamations like "Mississippi Goddam" and an iconic style, Nina Simone was both loved and feared throughout the 1960s for her outspoken vision of Black Freedom. Today, Nina is more popular eleven years after her death than ever before. President Barack Obama listed "Sinnerman" in his top 5 favorite songs, and whether re-mixed, re-sampled or in its pure form, Nina's music continues to empower people around the world with its unrelenting appeal for justice. With new insights into her musical journey from Classical Music and the segregated South, the worlds of Jazz and Civil Rights, through her erratic behavior and self-exile, Nina's legacy is chartered all the way to the place where she found freedom.

Directed by Jeff L. Lieberman

USA, 2015, Documentary, Feature

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

"The Amazing Nina Simone: A Documentary Film" offers a deeper understanding of the woman behind the music delving into the origins, intentions, and artistry of one of the world's great artists: Nina Simone.

Described as fiery... angry... difficult... diva-esque....and sometimes utterly confusing.... The film speaks to friends, family, band members, and civil rights activists to learn the true Nina... and the inspiration behind the songs that for 60 years have moved people to both tears and elation.

Offering songs both pure and untouched by today's electronics, Nina's music touches emotions of love, joy, despair, rage, and revenge - often commenting and reflecting the turbulent twists of the 1960s. Both loved and feared in her native America, adopted by Europe, worshipped in Japan, and a symbol of pride throughout Africa, Nina is more popular today eleven years after her death than ever before. President Barak Obama listed "Sinnerman" in his top 5 favorite songs, and whether re-mixed, re-sampled or in its pure form, Nina's music can be heard in films, commercials, radio, and online throughout the world. Her voice is one reflecting Freedom, inspiring young Civil Rights activists in Mississippi, women on the frontlines of the right for equality, LGBT folks fighting for the right to love, and today, African Americans in their quest for dignity, respect and safety.

The film traces Nina's roots from her upbringing in segregated North Carolina, when she was once Eunice Waymon and playing piano at the age of 3. This led to formal lessons with a White piano teacher, her beloved Mrs. Mazzy. Destined to be a great Classical Pianist, Eunice's journey is carefully documented through friends, family, and mentors as she experiences early disappointments navigating the Classical Music establishment, landing in an Atlantic City bar, where she develops her unique signature mix of layering folk, gospel, classical, pop and African music. Forced to sing or lose the job, she conceals from her religious mother that she is performing in a bar, and Nina Simone - a star - is born.

The documentary follows Nina on her rise to fame, her education amongst Harlem's intelligentsia, the creation of over 40+ albums, navigating the many factions of the Civil Rights Movement, performing around the world, proclaiming her own unique African identity through her style and fashion, and her eventual departure from the United States where she disappears from the concert stage for over a decade. The film charts Nina as she navigates through Africa, Europe and The Caribbean, chased by an untreated illness that consumes both her and her actions. With the help of friends and fans, Nina eventually re-builds her career to perform again for a generation of fans eager to rekindle the optimism and love she once provided in the 1960s.

With this film, we get one step closer to understanding the woman who has given fans moments of pride, and opportunities to cry in solitude. We gain a deeper appreciation of Nina's music, and an understanding of the events leading to their creation. We continue her fight for freedom for all people, and introduce younger audiences to the songs that inspired us. We help preserve and understand the Amazing Nina Simone.