Billie

UK, Feature Documentary, 2019, 97 min

A transfixing documentary about the master jazz singer. Variety

Her tearful hit song about lynching├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├óΓé¼┬¥├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├àΓÇ£Strange Fruit in the Southern Trees├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├é┬¥├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├óΓé¼┬¥landed superstar Billie Holiday on J. Edgar Hoover's enemies list for her lifetime. Now, this incredible film reveals a newly discovered treasure trove of interviews about Billie Holiday├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├óΓé¼┬¥all conducted in the 1970s by journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl. Over eight years, Linda recorded hundreds of hours of interviews with the extraordinary characters that populated the singer’s short, tumultuous life, including Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett, Count Basie, school friends, jail-mates, lawyers, pimps, and even the FBI agents who arrested her. But Linda’s book was never finished, and the tapes were never heard├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├é┬ªuntil now. All of these gritty interviews are interwoven with soaring, astonishing performances by Billie Holiday herself├â┬ó├óΓÇÜ┬¼├óΓé¼┬¥one of the greatest voices of all time.

Directed by James Erskine

Boulder Premiere