New Billie Holiday Documentary Coming This November
The documentary will showcase unseen footage and interviews from the 1960s and 70s.
Greenwich Entertainment is releasing a documentary on the life of jazz singer Billie Holiday titled Billie. The documentary will tell the story of the singer, who became a household name in the 1930s and 40s, while also talking about her brushes with political rebellion and her turbulent later life.
Holiday’s career and life was a veritable roller coaster, from her several sold-out concerts through the 40s and 50s, to her years of alcohol and drug abuse. The life of the singer has already been immortalized a few times, most notably in the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues starring Diana Ross, and the play Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.
The documentary will feature over 200 hours of unseen footage from Linda Lipnack Kuehl, the journalist who tried to write a biography about the singer. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Kuehl interviewed several of Holiday’s closest friends and relatives about her life. She also acquired testimonies from musical legends like Tony Bennett, Charles Mingus, Count Basie and Sylvia Syms. While she died before the biography was completed, this is the first time that the colorized footage will be released.
The documentary was written and directed by James Erskine, an Emmy nominated director responsible for works like The Battle of the Sexes (which inspired the Emma Stone-Steve Carrell movie) and the documentary on Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. While Billie has already made it to several prominent film festivals, it will be released virtually and to theatres on November 13, 2020.
Watch the trailer for Billie below: