The trailer for the new Nina Simone documentary is here
Netflix has released the first trailer for What Happened, Miss Simone?, the highly-anticipated documentary feature about the life and career of singer Nina Simone — and it is everything we’d hoped it would be and more. Based on the trailer, the film looks nuanced, gorgeous, and heartbreaking, and we’re still picking our jaws up off the floor.
What Happened, Miss Simone? debuted earlier this year as the opening film for the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. (It’s not to be confused with Nina, the controversial biopic out later this year starring Zoe Saldana — we know, it’s confusing.) Directed by Liz Garbus, the documentary leaves no stone unturned for the legendary High Priestess of Soul, and features unreleased recordings, rare interview footage, and her iconic music. Simone’s daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, even served as an executive producer for the film, and approved all the footage used — further proof of how incredible and personal the movie will surely be.
“Nina Simone’s brilliance would forever change the musical landscape and yet she never fully got her due,” Garbus told Indiewire. “She struggled against demons from both within and without, and her life was both a reflection of the legacy of racism in America as well as an extraordinary example of the power a righteous voice can bring to bear against even the most wicked historical legacies.”
The documentary promises to be an intimate and honest portrait of Simone — as singer, civil rights activist, mother, and human — and the trailer alone is guaranteed to give you chills. That voice is legendary for a reason, and the woman behind it is equally dynamic, beautiful, and complex.
“People think that when she went out on stage, she became Nina Simone,” her daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, says in the trailer. “My mother was Nina Simone 24/7. And that’s where it became a problem.”
What Happened, Miss Simone? will debut on Netflix on June 26, but you can watch the trailer below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moOQXZxriKY
