This story is part of True/False Conversations, a series of in-depth interviews with the filmmakers of this year’s True/False Festival. Find the rest of them here or download the podcast on iTunes.
The film What Happened, Miss Simone? Takes an intimate look into the life of the late singer and her struggles with fame, race and a tumultuous marriage. The legacy of Nina Simone’s music has spanned multiple generations, shattering racial barriers in the music industry. Trained as a classical pianist, Simone found success in the raw immersive world of jazz and blues. Her songs told the stories of a broken system and racial prejudice that helped set the tone of the civil rights movement in the 1960’s.
Simone’s involvement in the civil rights movement and her heavily charged lyrics led to the decline of what once was a thriving career. As a result, the cost of fame began to take a toll on her mental health and personal life. The film, which is a Netflix Original, was directed by award-winning director Liz Garbus.
While a fan of Nina Simone, Garbus said the idea for the film came to be when a company called Radical Media approached her about directing a film about the life of Nina Simone. Like many, Garbus knew Simone’s music, but wanted to know more about the real woman behind the music. This week Liz Garbus spoke with me over the phone about the misinterpreted life of Nina Simone.
Lewis-Thompson: Alright, so how did you get the idea for this film?
Garbus: So the idea, I've always been a Nina Simone fan, and actually a company called radical media approached me, and asked me if I'd be interested in making a film about Nina Simone, and I was like what? Um yeah you know, and I was such a fan of her music so it felt like this crazy kissmid had happened, and I knew her music, but I didn't know her life story so once I started to look into her life story I realized that she was so ill understood and that you know a film about her life, her extraordinary life would be something you know I would love to work on.
Lewis-Thompson: So, why tell this story now of all times?
Garbus: Well, as it turns out Nina's music has never stopped being relevant. You know, Nina in an interview in the late 80's said that her civil rights music wasn't relevant anymore because there was no civil rights movement, but I think we could disagree with Nina and say that while the movement may not be as organized and as strong as it was back then, her music is so relevant today. I think especially bringing it back--we were in the editing room editing in footage of you know tanks going down the streets in the 1960's, clearing away protestors while the protests were going on in Ferguson. So, the relevance is very clear.
Lewis-Thompson: And so the film touched on you know being alone and it talked about mental illness and it also just talked about the journey of fame. Why did you pick those specific themes in the film?
Garbus: Well, the film became my guiding principle in the film was to find as much of Nina talking about her life and her life story as I possibly could, and so my goal was to listen to Nina and listen to things, when you spend tens, dozens of hours listening to someone talk about their life they return to certain issues over and over and you can feel from them what are the kind of temple events of their lives. And so in listening to Nina, I understood what were the big struggles of her life, what were the big triumphs of her life, the struggles you know with her husband and manager who was very violent, but also she was incredibly dependent on and loved very much. Her struggle with activism in the civil rights movement. Her feeling that it needed to be more a more aggressive militant movement than it was, and then her feeling that you know the civil rights movement had failed and her sort of rejection of the United States. These were big things in her life. Of course fame and being on the road was something that was psychologically you know psychologically it pressed on her, and it became you know she kind of loved and hated performing at the same time. So all of these things were things she focused on that we when then focused on.
Lewis-Thompson: So what are your hopes that the audience takes away from your particular film this time around?
Garbus: Umm. I think Nina's an inspirational individual. You know she put it all out on the mat, right? You know, and she believed in something. She dedicated her entire being to it at the cost of her personal life, at the cost of her professional success. And while some might say that price is too high. Some might say that price is just right, you know for what you believe in. So, I think it's a very high bar for commitment and artistic creation, and I think you we can you know all kind of all learn something from that about our own priorities. Umm I'm not saying she was model you know, had a model life we'd all want to live. She had a lot of struggle and a lot of struggling, but the commitment to her art and to her people is inspirational.
Lewis-Thompson: So why are you bringing this film to True False? It's a pretty big film festival here. So why True/False?
Garbus: Well the truth is, True/False has just one of the greatest reputations of film festivals for documentary filmmakers. Everybody always talks about what a great time they have and how awesome the programming is. Umm and my film Bobby Fischer Against the World played there some years ago, and the day before I was supposed to get on a plane and go out there, I came down with the flu. Um so I never made it before so I'm really happy to be able to come with this film.
What Happened, Miss Simone? Will play at True/False on Friday, March 6 at 2 pm at the Picturehouse, Saturday, March 7 at 3:15 pm at the Cornell Hall and Saturday, March 7 at 9 pm at Geology. Director Liz Garbus is set to make an appearance at True/False.
