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Nina Simone Black Journal Segment (1969)
Character: Self
This is an excerpt from an episode of "Black Journal," one of the earliest black-produced newsmagazines on television. It features the words and music of singer Nina Simone, including a performance by Ms. Simone at Morehouse College. It is one of two episodes of Black Journal nominated for a Peabody Award. It originally aired in 1969, and is hosted by Lou House and William Greaves.
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Do I Look Like a Lady? (Comedians and Singers) (2016)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Do I Look Like a Lady? (Comedians and Singers) presents a dynamic checkerboard of moving image footage featuring African-American actors and singers from across the 20th century: from Jackie “Moms” Mabley to Eartha Kitt, Whoopi Goldberg, Whitney Houston, and several others. The video focuses on their individual voices as they express heartbreaking roles, pointed lyrics, sharp jokes, and strong statements of resistance to the dominant culture. The work is a powerful, and often riotous, reflection on the roles of black women in the United States.
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Why Is We Americans? (2022)
Character: Self
The story focuses on Newark's Baraka family and its involvement in social activism, poetry, music, art and politics.
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Piano Greats at the BBC (2022)
Character: Self (archive footage)
A collection of songs from the kings and queens of the keyboards, whose performances have captivated audiences over the decades and across a selection of the BBC’s best-loved music programmes. From piano pioneers like Little Richard, Nina Simone and Ray Charles, who showed the world that the new sounds of pop and rock didn’t just revolve around guitars, right through to modern maestros like Elton John, Lady Gaga and the BBC’s own Jools Holland, these are the big names who got us tapping our feet by letting their fingers do the talking.
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Nina Simone - Résonances au Panthéon (2024)
Character: N/A
ALA.NI, Patrice, Celeste, Kareen Guiock Thuram, Kham Meslien and Youn Sun Nah celebrate the legacy of Nina Simone at the Pantheon in Paris. Six artists, six emotional perspectives on the work of this timeless artist.
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Queens of Jazz: The Joy and Pain of the Jazz Divas (2013)
Character: Self (archive footage)
The documentary tracks the diva's difficult progress as she emerges from the tough, testosterone-fuelled world of the big bands of the 30s and 40s, to fill nightclubs and saloons across the US in the 50s and early 60s as a force in her own right. Looking at the lives and careers of six individual singers (Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone and Annie Ross), the film not only talks to those who knew and worked with these queens of jazz, but also to contemporary singers who sit on the shoulders of these trailblazing talents without having to endure the pain and hardship it took for them to make their highly individual voices heard above the prejudice of mid-century America.
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Black Woodstock (1969)
Character: Self
The Harlem Cultural Festival, also known as "Black Woodstock", was a series of music concerts held in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City during the summer of 1969 to celebrate African American music and culture and to promote the continued politics of black pride. The concerts took place in Harlem's Mount Morris Park on Sundays at 3PM from June 29, 1969 to August 24, 1969. The manifestation came soon after the Watts Riots, and the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.
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The Amazing Nina Simone (2015)
Character: Self (archive footage)
The life, legacy and musical accomplishments of singer, musician, pianist, songwriter and Civil Rights activist, Nina Simone through interviews with over 50 of the subject’s friends, family, band members, lovers and fellow activists. The film has been called the best of the three Nina Simone films by The New Yorker Magazine.
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Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
Character: Self (archive footage)
During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America's history lost — until now.
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Nina Simone: Live in Antibes - July 24th, 1965 (1965)
Character: Herself
Nina Simone live at Jazz à Juan — the International Jazz Festival in Juan-les-Pins, Antibes, France on July 24th, 1965. Nina performed twice at Jazz à Juan in 1965: on July 24th and July 25th. This is the full recording of Nina's first concert that year. Nina appears with Lisle Atkinson (on bass), Rudy Stevenson (on guitar & flute) and Bobby Hamilton (on drums)
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Nina Simone: Live in '65 & '68 (2008)
Character: N/A
Two incredible concerts from 1965 and 1968 showcasing the multifaceted diva in all her glory. Simone shines as a jazz vocalist extraordinaire on “Tomorrow Is My Turn,” as a definitive folk interpreter on Bob Dylan’s “The Ballad Of Hollis Brown” and as a passionate civil rights activist on both the epic “Four Women” and the scorching “Mississippi Goddam.” This DVD is a must for Nina Simone fans as she displays all of the qualities that made her both a supremely gifted jazz singer and pianist as well as the “High Priestess of Soul.”
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Nina Simone - I Loves You Porgy (Live 1961-62) (2010)
Character: N/A
Nina Simone has always been hard to classify. The “High Priestess of Soul” was trained as a classical pianist, but branched out early into pop, gospel, jazz and blues, playing and singing everyone’s compositions and writing many of her own. At 28 years old, she had already been seen in many clubs and had recorded several LPs when in 1961-62 she agreed to be filmed, without an audience, in a New York City studio. With a justified reputation as one of the greatest jazz singers of all time, Nina Simone has lit up the music world with some superlative performances over the years. This footage is culled from shows in 1961 and 1962, and sees Simone tackling a number of songs alone at the piano. Among them are I Loves You Porgy, For All We Know, Sunday In Savannah, and many others.
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How It Feels to Be Free (2021)
Character: Self (archival footage)
Tells the inspiring story of how six iconic African American female entertainers – Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier – challenged an entertainment industry deeply complicit in perpetuating racist stereotypes, and transformed themselves and their audiences in the process.
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King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
Character: Self (archive footage)
A presentation of key events in the life of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Beginning with the 1955 bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, MLK is followed through major steps in his struggle to promote racial equality. Including footage of King's stirring speeches, it is a fitting tribute to his legacy, and features clips narrated by a wide range of celebrities, including Harry Belafonte, Paul Newman Charlton Heston, Ruby Dee, Burt Lancaster, Anthony Quinn, Walter Matthau, Ben Gazzara, Clarence Williams III, Joanne Woodward, and James Earl Jones.
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Nina: A Historical Perspective (1970)
Character: N/A
This Emmy-nominated TV special highlights rare performance footage filmed between 1968 and 1969 at various US venues and locations, including the Westbury Music Fair, The Village Gate, and RCA Studios in New York City. Also featured are candid and personal interviews with Nina herself, revealing her unique views on music and life -- all expressed with her trademark intensity.
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Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (2024)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Jazz and decolonization are intertwined in a powerful narrative that recounts one of the tensest episodes of the Cold War.
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Nina Simone: My Baby Just Cares for Me (1987)
Character: N/A
Animated promotional video for Nina Simone's 1987's relaunch of her single "My Baby Just Cares for Me". The "Baby" in question is a claymation cat madly in love with her.
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Nina Simone - Live at Ronnie Scott's (1985)
Character: Herself
Ronnie Scott’s opened in 1959 to provide a place where British Jazz musicians could jam. Eventually, American music musicians such as Johnny Griffin, Roland Kirk, Al Cohn, Stan Getz, Sony Stitt, Benny Golson, Donald Byrd, and Ben Webster played at the club making it the legendary Jazz club it is today. Today, the club still books the greatest Jazz acts in the world, but also plays host to such diverse musicians as the talented Nina Simone. This film features Nina Simone (vocals, piano) delivering an intense emotional performance at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s in Soho, London on November 17, 1985. Simone is an eclectic musician, who adds a soulful mystique to whatever material she interprets. This brilliant performance at Ronnie Scott’s is testament to this fact.
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They All Came Out to Montreux (2023)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Utilizing a wealth of archival footage featuring Prince, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis and more, They All Came Out to Montreux is an affectionate story about how Claude Nobs turned his Swiss town into the home for one of the world’s biggest jazz festivals.
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Festival Panafricain d'Alger (1969)
Character: Self
Festival panafricain d'Alger is a documentary by William Klein of the music and dance festival held 40 years ago in the streets and in venues all across Algiers. Klein follows the preparations, the rehearsals, the concerts… He blends images of interviews made to writers and advocates of the freedom movements with stock images, thus allowing him to touch on such matters as colonialism, neocolonialism, colonial exploitation, the struggles and battles of the revolutionary movements for Independence.
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Nina Simone: La légende (1992)
Character: Herself
The Legend, on Nina’s life and music, was made in France by Frank Lords and it is told in large part by Nina Simone herself. It is an honest portrayal based on her autobiography “I Put A Spell On You,” that shows Nina at her mightiest and at her most vulnerable.
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Nina Simone: Live at Montreux 1976 (1976)
Character: Herself
Nina Simone was one of the greatest female vocalists of the 20th Century. She was equally at home singing jazz, blues, soul, gospel or pure pop. Nina made four appearances at the Montreux Festival between 1968 and 1990.
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The Giverny Document (Single Channel) (2019)
Character: (archival footage)
Filmed on location in Harlem and in Monet’s historic gardens in Giverny, this multi-textured cinematic poem meditates on the bodily integrity and creative virtuosity of black women.
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It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley (2025)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Rising musician Jeff Buckley had only released one album when he died suddenly in 1997. Now, never-before-seen footage, exclusive voice messages, and accounts from those closest to him offer a portrait of the captivating singer.
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What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
Character: Herself
The film chronicles Nina Simone's journey from child piano prodigy to iconic musician and passionate activist, told in her own words.
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