The Amazing Nina Simone

The film traces Nina’s roots from her upbringing in segregated North Carolina, when she was once Eunice Waymon and destined to be a great Classical Pianist. As she experiences early disappointments and lands in an Atlantic City bar, she develops her unique signature mix of layering folk, gospel, classical, jazz, and pop music. Forced to sing or lose the job, she conceals from her religious mother that she is performing in a bar, and Nina Simone – a star – is born.

The documentary uncovers Nina’s rise to fame, her education among Harlem’s intelligentsia, the creation of over 30 albums, navigating the many factions of the Civil Rights Movement, proclaiming her own unique identity through her style, fashion, and sexuality, and her abrupt departure from the United States. Chased by an untreated illness that consumes both her and her actions, Nina eventually re-builds her career, performing again for a generation of fans eager to rekindle the optimism and love she once provided in the 1960s.