![](/media/filmstills/2015/panorama/201505309_1_RWD_1380.jpg)
Nina Simone
What Happened, Miss Simone? by Liz Garbus
USA 2015, Panorama
![](/media/filmstills/2015/panorama/201505309_2_RWD_1380.jpg)
Nina Simone
What Happened, Miss Simone? by Liz Garbus
USA 2015, Panorama
![](/media/filmstills/2015/panorama/201505309_3_RWD_1380.jpg)
Nina Simone
What Happened, Miss Simone? by Liz Garbus
USA 2015, Panorama
Sometime after the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King she is to be seen standing on a stage before an entirely Afro-American audience. Her hair is piled as high as a turban, there are enormous earrings swinging from her ears and she seems to be bewitching the crowd: are you ready to take up arms? Are you ready to kill? By this time Nina Simone was no longer merely the amazingly talented classical and jazz pianist and unmistakable singer politely presenting her version of ‘I loves you Porgy’ in the TV show ‘Playboy’s Penthouse’ moderated by Hugh Hefner, but a politically committed human rights activist capable of provoking – both in her public and private life. Making use of copious archive footage, documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus weaves the various phases of Simone’s life – right up to her final years in Europe when she oscillated between being broke, lonely and sick and a celebrated jazz festival star – into a detailed and atmospheric portrait of a driven artiste.
Additional information
![](/media/bilder/2015/boulevard_2015/11_02_2015/110215_bd_3966_ORG.jpg)
Lisa Simone Kelly, Liz Garbus
The daughter of the protagonist and the director presented the film.
What Happened, Miss Simone? · Panorama · Feb 11, 2015
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Film Excerpt