Netflix has really been making a name for itself when it comes to acquiring and releasing high-quality documentary features. In fact, thanks to the service, people have never had such easy access to such a plethora of this kind of content.
The company just announced yet another original doc, which is coming in 2015. It’s called What Happened, Miss Simone?, and is about legendary musician and civil rights activist Nina Simone. The description is as follows:
Classically trained pianist, dive-bar chanteuse, black power icon and legendary recording artist, Nina Simone lived a life of brutal honesty, musical genius, and tortured melancholy. In this epic documentary, director Liz Garbus interweaves never-before-heard recordings and rare archival footage together with Ninas most memorable songs, to create an unforgettable portrait of one of the least understood, yet most beloved, artists of our time.
The film uses never-before-heard audio tapes, recorded over the course of three decades, of Nina telling her life story to various interviewers and would-be biographers. From over 100 hours of these recordings, What Happened, Miss Simone? weaves together Ninas narrative, told largely in her own words. Rare concert footage and archival interviews, along with diaries, letters, interviews with Ninas daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, friends and collaborators, along with other exclusive materials, make this the most authentic, personal, and unflinching telling of the extraordinary life of one of the 20th Century’s greatest recording artists.
Garbus is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker known for The Farm: Angola, USA and Bobby Fischer Against the World.
“In What Happened, Miss Simone?, Liz Garbus paints a brave and provocative picture of Nina Simone, artist, civil rights activist and heroine, in a film that we’ve loved from day one and are proud to bring to our viewers around the world,” said Lisa Nishimura, Netflix VP of Original Documentary Programming.”
“I’m thrilled that Netflix has embraced the incredible story of Nina Simone and partnered with RadicalMedia on this film,” said Garbus. “For each of her millions of fans, Nina feels like a treasured secret. With What Happened, Miss Simone?, I’m excited to help bring her passion, her music, and her story to the world.”
Another Netflix Original documentary, Virunga, is currently getting some Oscar buzz.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
